As Big Ag keeps on squealing, Proposition 12 and other animal welfare laws take root

It’s been two years since the full implementation of California’s pioneering Proposition 12, one of more than a dozen state statutes responsive to citizens’ desire to reduce animal cruelty in our food production systems. Of course, the National Pork Producers Council and its allies, having failed over and over in their attempts to scuttle Proposition 12 and like measures in the courts, continue to push for congressional action to overturn the will of the people and get the handout they want: the ability to force their low-welfare pork into the markets of every state, even the ones that have explicitly and legally rejected it.

The most likely threat could emerge in a few weeks in the form of a “skinny Farm Bill”—a pared-down legislative package of agricultural measures excluded from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year. We’ll be ready to fight off the threat again.

We’ll do so with the wind at our backs, because a number of key suppliers have peeled away from the NPPC, shunning its belligerent litigation and lobbying efforts. Instead, they’re moving to supply California and a number of other states whose legislatures and citizens have made clear their support for higher-welfare products.