The future of California Proposition 12 is uncertain. Currently, there is no legislation to address it in the Senate Farm Bill, but several swine industry groups are still hard at work to get something included in the final version. If the farm bill were to move forward without any Prop 12 legislation, the big question becomes this: what will the transition look like for swine producers across the country? Brent Hershey, owner and president of Hershey Ag, has already made the transition over to Prop 12 compliance, and he said the primary change to his operation was in the amount of space required to house his pigs- most other factors remained the same.
In order to become compliant, most producers would have to install more buildings on their operations to adequately house all of their pigs. Hershey said the financials made sense once he spread the cost out over a 10-year timeframe, but the financial burden was made surprisingly easier by the increase in production he observed in his pigs.
Hershey said he has also been able to earn a premium for his pigs since he made the switch already, but that premium has been steadily dropping.
However, Hershey said he has seen evidence that leads him to believe that the consumer will gradually shift to want pork from pigs raised without gestation crates, and that will lead to more market opportunities as retailers try to meet that desire.
For more information, visit meatproducers.org.
