News

Iowa pork producer frustrated by California’s Prop 12

An Iowa pork producer frustrated by Proposition 12 suggests California voters got it wrong. 

Jim Boyer operates a wean-to-finish hog operation in northwest Iowa and says California’s Prop 12, which establishes livestock confinement standards, takes choice away from consumers.

“So if there’s a consumer in California who wants to eat a pork chop that was pasture-raised and fed organic corn, I guarantee there are plenty of producers in the state of Iowa that are willing to fill that niche.”

As a commodity producer, Boyer tells Brownfield he’s bringing pork to the market for low-income families in the U.S. and abroad.

“And it’s just backwards that the state of California thinks that they can control how we raise animals in Iowa.”

Boyer says he’s hopeful Congress can pass the EATS Act, which limits the ability of individual states to impose ag regulations on other states.

Brownfield interviewed Boyer Tuesday during the Iowa State Fair.