Pork producers are on Capitol Hill this week to push for a measure preempting state-level animal confinement laws like California's Proposition 12 and Massachusetts' Question 3.
Members of the National Pork Producers Council are in Washington, D.C., for the organization's annual fly-in, and chief among their priorities, NPPC President Lori Stevermer said in a media briefing, is enactment of the EATS Act or a similar measure to prevent a potential "patchwork" of state-level regulations on pork animal housing. The group would like to see such a measure included in the next farm bill, although it's not clear ifone will be enacted this year.
The EATS Act would bar a state from regulating farming practices for foods produced in another state. While it has drawn support from lawmakers representing ag-heavy regions, its opponents range from Capitol Hill liberals to states’ rights advocates.
The Biden administration sided with NPPC and the American Farm Bureau Federation in their attempt to overturn Prop 12, but the Supreme Court ruled that the state's law, which prohibits the sale of pork derived from sows kept in gestation crates, did not violate the Commerce Clause.
NPPC CEO Bryan Humphreys said in the press call that while the EATS Act is one solution, the organization recognizes that there "is a balance that we have to have here."
"While there's some obviously things like the EATS Act that are on the table, this really needs to be a bipartisan solution," Humphreys said.
Humphreys added that he believes "there's a lot of options that this could take" as NPPC's push for a measure to address state housing regulations moves forward.
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Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and Center for a Humane Economy, which oppose the EATS Act, said he expects to see attempts to narrow the bill from its wider focus on agricultural regulations generally to just impacting regulations surrounding pigs or animal agriculture.
Pacelle said 26 Republicans have already publicly announced their disapproval of the measure and that no Democrats have yet supported it.
"I knew that we would come to this moment," Pacelle told Agri-Pulse of the potential narrowing of the proposal. "I'm actually surprised given all the opposition that has emerged that the chairman of the House committee is still pressing the issue."
Other major priorities for NPPC this year include addressing challenges in accessing labor and working with the USDA to create a national disease traceability program.
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