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House farm bill’s Prop 12 provision will face Senate test

A member of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee is hopeful the Senate Ag Committee will maintain Proposition 12 language in the farm bill.

Minnesota Republican Brad Finstad represents the second-largest pork producing congressional district in the U.S.

“For us to be able to get that in the farm bill and really fight off attempts by people to try to strip that out, it was a huge win for us. And to see that remain in the farm bill with a bipartisan vote I think is a huge accomplishment for rural America.”

The House bill includes a provision that would override or sharply limit state-level animal welfare laws like Prop 12.

“We were really at a crossroads when states like California and Massachusetts were trying to dictate to us the terms in which and how we raise our pigs. So there were a lot of misconceptions and misunderstanding, so we really had to do quite a bit of education.”

Finstad says because the House farm bill passed in a bipartisan nature, it sends a signal to the Senate Ag Committee that the provisions were vetted.