Size Doesn’t Matter: State Patchwork of Sow Housing Laws Hurts All Farmers

Nobody wins with a patchwork of differing and ever-changing state sow housing laws spurred by California Proposition 12. It doesn’t matter if you are a large-scale farmer or a small-scale farmer, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) says everyone stands to lose.

“The issue goes well beyond animal welfare and safety — farmers’ top priority — and rather to the root of the Constitution’s interstate commerce regulations and how bending them can break a farmer,” NPPC said in a release.

Ohio pig farmer and National Pork Producers Council vice president Pat Hord spoke on the need for patchwork prevention in testimony before the House Agriculture Committee in July. Hord has chosen to retrofit barns to be Prop 12-compliant.

“Pork producers throughout the country have already collectively spent hundreds of millions of dollars converting existing structures or building new barns to continue selling pork in California,” Hord testified.

But he says his compliance with Prop 12 does not protect him from more financial burdens if patchwork laws are not addressed.

“Whatever I do today could need to be changed when a new state decides they want a different housing standard,” he said. “These are expensive changes, and some farmers may exit the business amid this uncertainty, which increases consolidation.”