Iowa Farmers Prepare for California’s Prop 12
December 29, 2021 | Iowa
Hogs born Jan. 1, 2022, or later are subject to California’s Prop 12.
Some Iowa agricultural leaders have criticized the law, which prohibits the sale of pork from hogs that are the offspring of sows that were raised in pens with less than 24 square feet of usable floorspace per pig.
California accounts for about 15% of the U.S. pork market, the National Pork Producers Council said in a September news release. The NPPC is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to determine Prop 12’s constitutionality.
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Farm and Ag Business Management Specialist Kelvin Leibold told The Center Square in an emailed statement that Iowa farmers are preparing for the enforcement of Prop 12.
Leibold said that while animal farms do their best to prevent the spread of disease, that’s not always possible.
“Pigs are like people,” Leibold said. “They move around from farm to farm, they play together and they ride in various forms of transportation. So, pigs get sick.”… (Excerpts from the Virginia Star)
