The National Pork Producers Council is outlining pork producer cost concerns to the USDA should California’s Proposition 12 law hold up. The group sent a letter to Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack saying their industry faces catastrophic costs should the rule go into effect January 1 of 2022. NPPC’s Assistant Vice President and General Counsel Michael Formica says their estimates are converting to new facilities that meet Prop 12 standards would be over $3,000 per sow.
He says those costs are even higher for putting in new swine facilities due to the price of plywood and steel going up since the pandemic hit.
Formica says NPPC along with the American Farm Bureau are continuing their court fight against Proposition 12 to try and prevent it from being implemented.
Formica says Proposition 12 reaches outside California’s borders and if upheld would force their standards on other state’s producers which is a violation of the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
