Capitol Hill Republicans pushing to preempt state’s spacing standards for raising pregnant pigs
California’s law setting minimum housing requirements for certain livestock is facing pressure from Congress, as large pork producers and lobbying groups back Congressional Republicans’ push to preempt the voter-approved rule.
Federal intervention could have significant ramifications for pig farmers throughout the state, as well as your dinner plate, with California farmers and the San Francisco restaurateurs they serve speaking out in opposition to the congressional push to unwind Proposition 12. “The product is better, it tastes better, and we can feel better about what it’s doing to the environment and promoting the continued existence of these and supply chains,” David Barzelay, chef and owner of Lazy Bear, said of sourcing pork under California’s requirements. “Part of it is the romanticism of it. We love being able to talk to our guests about where our product comes from and we want to see more of the idyllic, pastoral images of these small farms.” Nearly 63% of California voters approved Prop. 12 in 2018. The measure required any pork, hen’s eggs or veal sold in California to have come from farms providing a minimum amount of space. The minimum for breeding pigs at least 24 square feet of floor space without touching the sides of the enclosure or another animal. House republicans, with the support of pig farmers, pork producers and lobbying groups from the Midwest are seeking to preempt the California law that sets minimum requirements for housing pregnant pigs. Pork products that don’t comply with the law cannot be sold in California markets. The law went into full effect last year following years of litigation and has divided the national pork industry since its passage. While many local farmers, producers, and animal-rights activists argue that Prop. 12 is a small but revolutionary step toward more humane farming practices, opponents contend that it negatively impacts interstate commerce, blocking farmers in the nation’s top-producing pork states like Iowa and Minnesota from selling their product in a lucrative market. “The revolutionary piece is that it makes it illegal to sell in California,” Michael Dimock, Executive Director of Roots of Change, told The Examiner. “So that gives it so much power to shape an entire industry, which is what some are resisting.” Roots of Change develops and campaigns for farm policies that affect California’s ranchers and meat producers. The group supported Prop. 12 and now opposes the new congressional bill that aims to forestall the state law and block similar farming regulations cropping up across the country. Several other states, including Massachusetts, Arizona, Colorado and Ohio, have passed laws establishing minimum space requirements and banning the use of small crates to confine pregnant pigs. Not all of the states ban sales of pork raised in spaces that don’t comply. Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican, introduced the Food Security and Farm Protection Act in April. The legislation seeks to prevent states from imposing laws “interfering” with interstate pork sales. Ernst has argued that California’s Prop. 12 is “dangerous and arbitrary overregulation” that drives up the cost of pork in all states, puts family-owned farmers in the Midwest out of business and “jeopardizes the nation’s food security.” “I’m proud to be leading the charge to strike down this harmful measure and will keep fighting to make sure the voices of the farmers and experts who know best – not liberal California activists – are heard,” Ernst said in a statement introducing the bill. The U.S. House Committee on Agriculture held a hearing last week centered on Prop. 12. Pennsylvania Rep. Glenn Thompson, the committee chair, and fellow Republican lawmakers on the body discussed including language in the 2025 Farm Bill — legislation passed every five years setting federal food policy — that would strip states of the ability to set agricultural standards, effectively nullifying Prop. 12. Congressional Republicans’ proposals have earned the backing of the National Pork Producers Council, an industry group that led the unsuccessful legal push to overturn Prop. 12. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to uphold the law in 2023. Dimock said the lobbying groups have a clear, monetary incentive to rally against humane farming regulations like Prop. 12. “How many companies really control the pork market? There's probably two, maybe three, that really control the entire pork market,” Dimock said. “ want the lowest possible price they can pay per pound for those pigs coming out of those confined animal speeding operations. So they're really the ones putting the pressure, because it's not the individual farmers.” Ex // Top Stories SF restorative-justice hub offers clients ‘a place where they belong’ Community Works West’s SoMa site welcomes program participants with open arms City to grant homeless families longer shelter stays Follows months of advocacy from unhoused immigrants, discussions with San Francisco officialsAs midwestern Republican lawmakers in Congress say Prop. 12 poses a major threat to family farms and food security, some California farmers are pushing back against these claims. Small-time Sonora pig farmer Samuel Santry packs his refrigerated van, embossed with Sweetwater Farm and Ranch Co.’s saturated setting-sun logo, every Thursday at the crack of dawn. He makes the 150-mile trip to San Francisco weekly to personally deliver his pork products to Che Fico, Lazy Bear Octavia, State Bird and other top restaurants in a city Travel + Leisure recently crowned the food capital of the U.S. Santry fills his van with pork tenderloins, oso bucco, chops and bellies and delivers his product while taking Zoom calls between deals to master his company’s social media presence — a necessary albeit tedious task for the veteran-turned-rancher. “I want to hire a social media person to do this so I don’t have to,” he told The Examiner. “I also want to hire a reliable distributor. And some more We can’t do that right now.” Santry said that the first five years tend to “make or break” a business in the farm and ranching industry, and despite the luxurious accounts he has attained in San Francisco, his company is “almost always breaking even.” Sweetwater started in 2019, a year after the pivotal state law passed requiring farmers to invest in larger holding pens for pregnant pigs. While Congressional Republicans claim that the legislation is putting farms like Santry’s out of business, he remains a staunch supporter of the legislation. He joined a group of over 100 farmers nationwide to pen a letter introduced at last Wednesday’s hearing in opposition of the Food Security and Farm Protection Act. Santry said the regulations ensure a healthier, safer product that’s worth more than the money he invests in caring for the hogs. “We work directly with our pigs every day, and we understand firsthand their needs and behaviors. Stress-related health issues are a real concern when animals are confined to small spaces,” Santry said. “I mean, pigs get sad. They get depressed. Then, disease spreads.” Santry said that Prop. 12 “barely scratches the surface” when it comes to humane farming practices. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the national animal rights advocacy group known as PETA, agrees. In an unattributed statement to The Examiner, a PETA spokesperson said “a civilized society needs to impose restrictions on how living beings are treated, from children to chickens — Prop. 12 offered barely a pittance of protection, so to do away with even that shames the nation.” Some witnesses at the Wednesday committee hearing argued that Prop. 12 regulations harmed restaurant owners by driving up pork prices. Lily Rocha, executive director for the Latino Restaurant Association said Prop. 12 “ like a wrecking ball the livelihoods of small restaurants and the communities we serve by disrupting supply chains and dragging up the cost of culturally vital foods like pork.” But owners of the restaurants to which Santry delivers paint a different picture. Barezlay said San Francisco diners often prefer food sourced from local, human farming operations like Sweetwater’s. He said preempting Prop. 12 could make it more difficult for local restaurants to do so, forcing them to buy from larger producers.“I think that if we could break the monopoly, the oligopoly of these pork producers, you could see, over time, more and more Sweetwater operations, because that's really how pigs want to be raised,” Dimock said.
2025 Farm Bill Pork Industry Food Security And Farm Protection Act House Agriculture Committee Sweetwater Farm And Ranch Co.
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