Pat McGonegle, the CEO of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, told the Manitoba Pork AGM in April California’s Proposition 12 can seriously disrupt pork marketing throughout the United States.
California’s Proposition 12, a ballot initiative passed in 2018 and to come into effect January 1, 2022, raises the minimum space requirements for veal calves, breeding pigs and egg-laying hens and bans the sale of products in that state of animals from farms that don’t meet the new standards.
The new law will raise the minimum space requirement for breeding sows above anything in place on Iowa pig farms today.
In California, producers will need sow housing that will require pigs to have 24 square feet per pig. That goes into effect on January 1 of 2022, and the National Pork Producers Council and others are taking legal action against it.
McGonegle said regardless of where products originate, they will have to comply with the new law to sell in California, so this is an issue that the entire U.S. pork sector will need to deal with.
While California is notorious for its extreme and ridiculous ballot initiatives, this one unlike others, Proposition 12 has real consequences for farmers and animal agriculture.
According to a report on the AGDAILY website, the Prevention of Cruelty to Farm Animals Act, the proposition’s official name, passed in 2018 with 63 percent of the vote. The law imposes new standards for animal housing. According to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, the measure created minimum requirements to provide more space for veal calves, breeding pigs, and egg-laying hens. But the Act’s most significant feature is that it applies to anyone selling these animals in California. So a California farmer must meet those requirements just as much as an Iowa, Michigan, Florida, or Massachusetts farmer. 
“If you don’t follow the law, you’re not allowed to sell your products in the state.”
McGonegle said it certainly is a crucial issue for producers. 
“I don’t know what the debate is nationwide, but we have a million sows in Iowa, and we figure none of those sows are compliant to Prop 12 that becomes effective January 1 of 2022, so we are hopeful the legal process will be successful.”
In April, IPPA did not yet have the rules from California on what the exact requirements will be, but producers have bred those sows already.  
McGonegle said the pig industry in Iowa generates about 147,000 jobs in this state. Household income generated from the pork industry in Iowa is about 6.8 billion dollars.  •
— By Harry Siemens