The U.S. Agriculture Secretary says she’s open to federal action in response to a California state law that would restrict the way farmers in Iowa raise pigs.
Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, a Republican from Marion, asked about the issue in a House budget hearing.
Supporters say California’s Proposition 12 improves animal welfare, but Hinson and many in the pork industry say it imposes a financial burden on producers.
“We want California to be able to regulate its own producers,” Hinson says, “but we don’t want them to be able to tell Iowa farmers how to raise our animals and do their jobs.”
The California law requires certain cuts of pork sold in the state to come from breeding pigs with at least 24 square feet of space.
U.S. Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins said state laws that have a significant impact outside their borders are not sustainable.
“Having a federal approach to that, ensuring that we’re protecting our pork producers, especially, some of our other livestock producers underneath the regime of Prop 12 is important,” Rollins says. “So we’ll keep working on that together and I really look forward to it.”
Hinson has introduced legislation in the past to prevent states from enacting stricter regulations on animal agriculture than federal law requires.
(By Rachel Cramer, Iowa Public Radio)