WASHINGTON — The National Pork Producers Council’s (NPPC) Fall Legislative Action Conference gathered 120 pork producers along with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Senator John Boozman (R-Ark.) to discuss passage of a 2024 farm bill and a federal solution to California's Proposition 12.

Boozman, the ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, told NPPC members that he remains optimistic about a farm bill passing this year. 

“We are working hard to get a farm bill done,” he said. “I’m very concerned about Prop 12. Chair Stabenow and I have both shared frameworks, and importantly, G.T. Thompson got a bipartisan farm bill out of his committee. Agriculture needs to stick together ... to get this done.”

A crucial component of the farm bill for NPPC is a fix to the effects and implications created with the enactment of Prop 12.

The Prop 12 ballot initiative went into effect earlier this year. As a consequence, California consumers are experiencing limited pork supply at higher costs, according to NPPC. Lori Stevermer, NPPC president and pork producer from Minnesota, noted in a press call on Sept. 9 that California’s pork prices have surged by 20%. California now accounts for less than 2% of total US fresh pork sales.

During NPPC’s Fall Legislative Action Conference, Vilsack acknowledged that pork producers don’t have the luxury of deciding which state(s) to market their products. The ag secretary also emphasized that price increases make it more difficult to include pork products in nutrition programs that support vulnerable populations. Likewise, shrinking farms could mean less jobs in the state, or even work shifting to outside of the United States.

NPPC said Prop 12 inflicts construction costs for producers up to $4,000 per sow. The group added that the law sets a dangerous precedent, enabling each state to develop differing regulations on out-of-state producers.

In an attempt to educate policymakers on the critical need for a farm bill to pass this year with a solution to Prop 12, NPPC hosted a pop-up food truck on Capitol Hill. The group offered maple bacon donuts and information on the potential threat posed by Prop 12 and similar laws. The “Food Truck from a Post-Prop 12 America” accepted “Bacon Bucks,” highlighting the price hikes American consumers could face if Prop 12 is left unchecked, NPPC said.