Today, Governor Kim Reynolds submitted a letter co-signed with seven other governors to congressional leadership to support the Save Our Bacon Act, a bill that addresses California’s unconstitutional Proposition 12, alleviating overregulation prohibiting state and local governments from interfering with the production of agricultural goods in other states and forcing farmers across America to concede to radical regulations set by other states.
The letter states in part:
“For decades, our livestock producers have implemented science-based practices and adopted production technologies that have allowed our nation’s food supply to be one of the safest and most sustainable in the world. The United States is producing high-quality protein as affordably and humanely as possible. However, through Proposition 12, California has set arbitrary requirements for how producers should operate their farming businesses. Out of touch and removed from the realities of agriculture, California activists now claim to know what’s best for the producers who have raised livestock from generation to generation.
Livestock production in the United States is inherently interstate in its design. In the pork industry, nearly 100 percent of the nation’s sow population is raised outside of California. Although California does not raise hogs, the state does account for 15 percent of the national pork market. Despite California’s lack of hog herd, interstate commerce allows its consumers to purchase pork products, meeting the state’s market demand for this protein. By imposing unnecessary and unscientific regulations, Proposition 12 increases the price for consumers in California and for producers in pork-supplying states.
We support the right of individuals to choose which animal products they purchase and consume. If consumers in the marketplace create a demand for products to be raised in a certain way, producers may be incentivized to change their practices to meet this new demand. We also support the right of each state to lawfully regulate livestock production within their own borders. But when one state decides to regulate another, federal legislation is appropriate and necessary. We ask that Congress make clear that each state may regulate livestock production within its own borders, but not the production of livestock in other states.”