New California law could affect Iowa hog farmers
A new California law that bans the use of gestation stalls and creates larger minimum pen size requirements for hogs
By James Stratton
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COLLINS, Iowa (KCCI) — On a cold winter day, Dave Struthers marks his hogs for market.
“Yep, just eyeball it,” he said as he walked through an open-air hoop barn filled with hogs.
The ones who get the pink marking will head for market the next day. But, under a new California law, his hogs can’t go to that state.
“For me, the pigs I buy come from farms that do use gestation stalls,” he said. “So, none of these pigs that I raise are ever going to California.”
The law, Proposition 12, bans the use of gestation stalls and creates larger minimum pen size requirements for hogs, chickens and veal calves. A gestation stall is a smaller pen that doesn’t allow a sow to turn around after birthing and keeps it by itself.
“It protects the piglets from getting laid on because the sow can’t turn around and do a lot of things to crush them and hurt them,” Struthers added. “They can have individualized care.”
“It’s common sense that the mother pig can turn around,” said Josh Balk, Vice President of Animal Protection at the Humane Society of the United States.
The Humane Society led the ballot initiative that passed Proposition 12 in 2018 with almost 63% of the vote.
“Many of the largest meat companies in the United States have publicly stated that they are Prop 12 compliant, and they are eager to sell to California,” Balk said.
Some of those meat companies include Hormel, who planned to be compliant by the first of January, and Hatfield, who plans to be crate-free by December 2022. Tyson says it will come into compliance, but the company’s President and CEO said it was something the company was not excited about in an August earnings call.
Other groups, like the National Pork Producers Council, said the law is unconstitutional and will only drive up prices for consumers in California.
“They’re reaching across international borders, to send their inspectors and to try and regulate how farmers farm far outside the boundaries of California,” said Mike Formica, General Counsel for the NPPC.
Roughly 4-5% of pork producers are compliant with Proposition 12, according to the NPPC, and California consumes about 13% of pork in the United States.
Businesses who don’t comply with the law, and use meat that does not meet the requirements can be fined up to $1,000 and jailed for up to 180 days.
The National Pork Producers Council is suing Karen Ross, the Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. The United States Supreme Court could decide to hear arguments on the appeal of that case as early as Friday.
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