Our American love affair with bacon does not appear to be coming to an end. However, it sounds like California will be short on bacon starting in January 2022. It is a result of Proposition 12, a ballot initiative that California voters recently passed.
First off, this is not just about bacon but about the entire food supply, and it is high time Californians get hungry.
This all started in 2008 with Prop 2. I went to California 14 times in 2008, working with producers in the egg laying business, to work at beating Prop 2. Prop 2 mandated increased space for chickens laying eggs in cages. While the amount of space required was not identified in 2008, Californians did vote unanimously in favor of Prop 2 in every single county in the state.
As Prop 2 passed and was set to take effect Jan. 1, 2015, California egg producers knew they were in trouble trying to compete with out-of-state egg producers who could manage their chickens more efficiently so they went to work in 2010 to get the California assembly to pass a law requiring all eggs sold in California to be from farmers compliant with Prop 2 standards. For the record, California egg prices tripled in January 2015 and everything in the news today about Prop 12 stems back to this series of events.
So if you actually read the Prop 12 “standards” that will go into effect 2022, it states that eggs must now be produced from cage-free hens. Here is the deal, back in 2008 there was a group of producers that said, “Let’s just give them this little movement and then they will leave us alone.” You are wrong if you think they will ever leave you alone. They do not want better treatment for the animal, they don’t want the animal to exist. This will destroy both human and planet health.
Here is a glimpse of what California voters are being told as they prepared to vote on Prop 12:
“This measure would likely result in an increase in prices for eggs, pork, and veal for two reasons. First, this measure would result in many farmers having to remodel or build new housing for animals—such as by installing cage-free housing for hens. In some cases, this housing also could be more expensive to run on an ongoing basis. Much of these increased costs are likely to be passed through to consumers who purchase the products. Second, it could take several years for enough farmers in California and other states to change their housing systems to meet the measure’s requirements.
If in the future farmers cannot produce enough eggs, pork, and veal to meet the demand in California, these shortfalls would lead to an increase in prices until farmers can meet demand.”
It was laid out for them this clearly and yet a majority of Californians voted yes anyway. I have been vocal in saying, “let them eat cake” but my friends in pork production are scared because 15% of the U.S. pork market is in California. They will never be satisfied. They will continue to change the rules until you can no longer afford to produce their food.
There is currently litigation on this issue that is working its way through the legal system that one attorney told me has a chance to make it to the Supreme Court. The National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation are backing this movement and possibly by 2030 there could be some relief. 2030? Yes, my point is that by then it just won’t make a difference. At some point, folks need to feel the pain they have created and I believe the time has come for California to wake up hungry and then just wake up.
Editor’s note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.LoosTales.com, or email Trent at [email protected].
