True animal welfare starts with supporting hog producers, not creating legislation to impede their ability to raise their livestock. As swine industry leaders push to get legislation to nullify California Proposition 12 on the Senate version of the farm bill, another wave of misinformation from animal rights activists is pushing in the opposite direction to keep Prop 12 around. National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) President Rob Brenneman said the misinformation is coming from groups like the American Meat Producers Association.
Brenneman said Prop 12 isn’t about animal welfare- it’s legislation that is designed to decrease the consumption of pork products.
Brenneman said true animal welfare can be practiced in indoor and outdoor hog confinements, so adding an arbitrary amount of space won’t automatically improve animal welfare practices. In fact, some buildings, especially for gestation and farrowing, need to have controlled areas in order to prevent the pigs from harming each other.
Small-scale hog producers in particular can’t afford to raise hogs in a bunch of different ways in order to appease every different purchaser. Hog producers will change their practices to whatever the marketplace wants, and Brenneman said those decisions need to be made without legislative interference.
In California, Prop 12 has already raised pork prices enough to cause a significant increase in demand. Brenneman said consumers deserve to have the option to purchase whatever products they want as well.
Any producers or consumers who want to make their voices heard about Prop 12 should reach out to their state’s legislators. Brenneman thanked several of Iowa’s legislators in particular for their work to support pork producers across the country.
For more information, visit nppc.org.
