Pat Hord, an Ohio pork producer and vice president of the National Pork Producers Council, and Holly Cook, NPPC Economist, testified before the House Ag Committee on the implications of California’s Prop 12 for farmers and food prices.
On behalf of the industry, they called for Congress to support Committee Chair GT Thompson’s efforts to address the severe threat to the U.S. pork industry, including the spiderweb of state regulations it invites.
Hord said, “Despite producing Proposition 12-compliant pork, I’m here to say Prop 12 and an unmitigated regulatory patchwork threaten our farm.”
Prop. 12, a California ballot initiative, bans the sale of pork that doesn’t comply with the state’s prescriptive and arbitrary production standards.
They explained how widespread adoption of measures like Prop. 12 would lead to even more consumers paying higher prices for pork.
California prices have already risen 16 percent for bacon and 41 percent for pork loins.
