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MO Pork Association applauds Prop 12 Fix in House Farm Bill draft

The executive director of the Missouri Pork Association says he’s glad to see a fix to Proposition 12 included in House Ag Committee’s latest farm bill draft.

Scott Hays tells Brownfield “it looks like we might finally get our day in Congress to try and get a fix in for this problem.”

The proposal in the farm bill clarifies states and cities can only set livestock production standards for animals actually raised in their own state.

Hays says it’s not right that an animal welfare law in California, called the Farm Animal Confinement Initiative or Prop 12, tells the rest of the country how it’s supposed to raise animals.

“It raised the cost of production for the farmer, which ultimately raises the prices for consumers. That’s what we’ve seen. The price of pork is up in California and consumption is down. That’s the ultimate goal of the groups that are pushing this kind of stuff.”

Hays says he’s optimistic Congress can work through any differences on what to include in the legislation and move forward.

“They resolved a lot of issues in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” he says. “I think some in Congress are wanting to revisit the SNAP portion, which is by far the largest part of the farm bill. It’s more than 80 percent of the funding. Hopefully, that won’t hold the rest of the things hostage.”

The House Ag Committee is scheduled to mark up the farm bill on February 23.