I was stunned by Duane Statler’s October 11 op-ed, “Pork prices are rising because of California – Congress can fix itLike Statler, I am a multi-generational farmer. My family has raised livestock and grain on the same Missouri land for more than a century. Although we share a love of farming, we differ on what is best for America’s independent hog producers.
California’s Proposition 12That sets high welfare standards for animals sold in that state, posing no threat to farmers like me. In fact, this is one of the few market opportunities that is actually helping us hold our ground and make a decent living.
It is no surprise that Statler would take this position; As president of the National Pork Producers Council, he represents an organization thatcalls himself“Global voice for the US pork industry.” In practice, this means advocating for the largest corporate pork producers and processors. But there is another voice in this fight, that of independent family farmers – the men and women who raise hogs, sheep and cattle on their land, care for their animals and keep rural America alive.
California’s Proposition 12 does not ban pork production or impose arbitrary regulations. It sets minimum space standards for all animals sold in California markets – adequate space to stand, lie down and turn around. California isn’t dictating how farmers operate. Voters there simply decided to support higher animal welfare standards with their dollars – something farmers like me can accomplish if given a fair chance. This is the free market at work, and independent farmers are exactly what we depend on.
What’s really at stake here is control – who gets to shape the future of farming: independent growers or corporate packers? The same corporate interests that claim to protect farmers from regulation are actually consolidating our industry and preventing us from accessing the market. Their philosophy is “Get in line or get out.” When they talk about “equal standards”, they mean a system where all the power lies with them – where it is acceptable to confine a sow (mother pig) to a two by seven foot cage for most of her life.
Critics claim Proposition 12 has caused pork prices to skyrocket, but the facts tell a different story. Since enforcement began in January 2024, retail pork chop prices have increased in California 6.6 percent – A normal, short-term adjustment as supply catches up with demand. headline-grabber 41 percent increase This happened several years ago, long before Proposition 12 went into effect, during the pandemic-era market correction following 2019’s record-low prices. Blaming Prop. 12 for inflation is like blaming meteorologists for hurricanes.
Some say this law weakens interstate commerce. The Supreme Court has already considered that claim upheld the lawConfirming what farmers have long understood: States have the power to decide what products can be sold within their borders. This principle is not overreach of government – it is federalism in action, the very balance our system was designed to protect.
Yet Congress is now considering it Food Security and Agriculture Protection Act and this Save Our Bacon Act – a rebranded version of the failed EATS Act – which would strip that authority from states. These bills would tell voters and consumers that their preferences don’t matter when corporate lobbyists object.
Critics also insist that Proposition 12 hurts small farmers. The truth is that this is one of the few policies that gives us a fighting chance. Number of US hog farms between 1980 and 2022 More than 70 percent declineEven though total production increased – this decline was caused not by animal welfare laws, but by corporate consolidation, weak antitrust enforcement, and vertically integrated packers such as China’s Smithfield and Brazil’s JBS.
Proposition 12 changes this by creating a premium market for farmers raising pigs in high-welfare systems. About this 27 percent Growers are already in compliance – family operations investing in the future, who deserve a fair shot at that market and don’t need Congress to take away their livelihoods and investments.
The real risk is the industrial model pushed by the National Pork Producers Council – a system that concentrates production, crushes competition and hollows out rural communities. When a few multinational corporations control almost all slaughter capacity, the closure of one plant can affect the entire supply chain. That setup doesn’t make our food system resilient; This makes it dangerously fragile.
I respect every farmer who works hard to care for his animals and feed his neighbors. But the National Pork Producers Council doesn’t speak for me – or the thousands of independent farmers who see Proposition 12 as a lifeline – an opportunity to compete fairly and stay in business.
We don’t need Congress to “fix” Proposition 12. We need Congress to fix the broken markets that have pushed farmers like me to the brink.
Joe Maxwell is a fourth-generation Missouri hog farmer and president Farm Action Fund,
