The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) is pleased to announce the U.S. House Agriculture Committee has passed their 2024 Farm Bill, which supported all of producer’s farm bill requests, including a federal fix to the host of Prop. 12 issues plaguing producers and consumers.
“The 2024 Farm Bill is a golden opportunity to address a top issue for pork producers across the country – California Prop. 12 – and I’m pleased to see the U.S. House Agriculture Committee seize the opportunity to stop a potential 50-state patchwork of differing on-farm regulations,” said NPPC President Lori Stevermer, a pork producer from Easton, Minn.
“At a time when bipartisanship is often a four-letter word in Washington, we applaud the House Agriculture Committee for working together to deliver a farm bill that validates America’s pork producers’ needs.”
“We urge the U.S. Senate to follow suit and provide much needed certainty to pork producers and consumers across the country.”
A 2018 California ballot initiative, Proposition 12, prohibits the sale of uncooked whole pork meat not produced according to the state’s arbitrary housing dimensions. Recent USDA data indicates price spikes as high as 41% for pork in California since Prop. 12 came into effect.
The House Farm Bill also accomplishes 100% of U.S. pork producers’ priorities, including:
• Preservation of necessary resources to protect the nation’s food supply through foreign animal disease prevention.
• Increase in market access programs for U.S. pork.
• Boost in resources for feral swine eradication to protect the health of our herds.
• Authorization of the National Detector Dog Training Center, which serves as the first line of defense for early detection at ports of entry.