Some Iowa producers are urging Congress to address Proposition 12 as lawmakers work toward a new five-year farm bill.
Rob Brenneman, a pork producer from southeast Iowa and current president of the National Pork Producers Council, says Prop 12 could put additional financial pressure on family-owned hog operations that are unable to absorb the cost of compliance.
“It drives up cost,” Brenneman said. “And it does affect the small farmers more so than the big farmers because that cost is very expensive on a daily basis.”
Central Iowa farmer Dean Frazier, who serves as president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, says there are misconceptions about the Save Our Bacon Act that was included in the House version of the farm bill.
“It does not force people to buy anything,” Frazier said. “It’s just giving them freedom of choice. Save Our Bacon Act will help reduce prices for people that need lower prices the most.”
Iowa Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, who helped author the Save Our Bacon Act, says California’s Proposition 12 law sets a concerning precedent for other states.
“We know this is a policy that is an over regulatory policy,” Hinson said. “Californians are trying to tell Iowans what they know how to do already best, which is raise animals responsibly.”
Proposition 12 requires gestating sows to be kept in no less than 24-square feet of area for the pork to be sold within the state.
Speaking with reporters at the Iowa State Fair, Hinson said compliance for Prop 12 can cost farmers between $3,000-to-$5,000 per sow.
“This kind of over regulation it’s like death by a thousand cuts,” Hinson said. “We don’t want to see Iowa farmers continue to go out of business.”
The measure remains absent from the Senate farm bill draft, but lawmakers are expected to revisit the issue when farm bill negotiations resume after the August recess.
