National Pork Producers Council

• The groups are determined to prevent the measure from marginalizing American family farmers and opening the floodgates to China’s takeover of American agriculture alongside conservative groups like FreedomWorks .
• “Our elected officials and their staff need to remember they work for us – the American taxpayer – and not the other way around.
• The ads encourage voters to contact their elected officials and ask them to vote no on any Farm Bill that contains the EATS Act.
• The foundation of the Organization for Competitive Markets is to fight for competitive markets in agriculture for farmers, ranchers and rural communities.

• Triumph Foods filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts federal district court challenging the constitutionality of the state law known as Question 3 (Q3) and, in turn, similar laws like it, including California’s Proposition 12 (Prop 12).
• The lawsuit challenges Q3 and the overall constitutionality of similar laws like Prop 12.
• This left the door open to address the constitutionality of laws like Q3 and Prop 12 through other claims, which Triumph Foods intends to pursue.
• Laws like Q3 and Prop 12 put not just farmers at risk but threaten food security,” said the farmer plaintiffs.

• On May 11, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld California’s position by a 5-4 vote in National Pork Producers Council v. Ross.
• While the ruling was fractured and reflected complex legal questions, it is a major victory for those working to improve farm animal welfare.
• A number of states will undoubtedly take advantage of the power that the Supreme Court has recognized.

More indoor space for sows

• It set new conditions for raising hogs, veal calves and egg-laying chickens whose meat or eggs are sold in California.
• The state produces virtually no pork, but represents about 15% of the U.S. pork market.
• California’s law requires that each sow must have at least 24 square feet of floor space – nearly double the amount that most now get.
• The National Pork Producers Council argued that this requirement imposed heavy compliance costs on farmers across the U.S., since large hog farms may house thousands of sows, and that it restricted interstate commerce.

States control farm animal welfare

• Congress has remained mute on standards for handling farm animals, which are not covered under the 1966 Animal Welfare Act.
• And nine states in addition to California have adopted laws requiring pork producers to phase out gestation crates.

California’s market power

• The California law says that if producers want to sell pork in California, they must raise pigs under conditions that comply with the state’s regulations.
• Farmers do not have to meet these standards unless they want to sell in California.
• But instead of working out how to comply, the pork industry sought to have the courts set the California law aside.

A fractured verdict

• In rejecting the pork industry’s position, justices in the majority disagreed as to why the California law should be upheld.
• Some held that pork producers had not proved that the law would substantially interfere with interstate commerce.
• Similarly, dissenting justices differed as to why the California law posed a constitutional problem.

Beyond pork

• Conceivably, California might also be able to require basic conditions for human labor, such as minimum wage standards, associated with products sold in California.
• I expect that within five years, Congress will enact national legislation on farm animal welfare issues that will preempt differing state laws.

• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Feb. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OKLAHOMA CITY — Coinciding with National Pig Day on March 1, Kirkpatrick Foundation presents The Oklahoma Conference on the Humane Treatment of Pigs on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Student Center and John E. Kirkpatrick Horticultural Center at OSU-OKC, 900 North Portland Avenue, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
• “The current industrial use of these crates in CAFOs was adopted as many family farms were taken over by large, corporate farms,” said Louisa McCune, executive director of Kirkpatrick Foundation.
• “Oklahoma is lagging in its approach to the basic wellbeing of pigs as part of the food system,” McCune said.
• The mission of Kirkpatrick Foundation is to support arts, culture, education, animal wellbeing, environmental conservation, historic preservation, primarily in Central Oklahoma.