We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Privacy Terms and Cookie Policy
Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
The U.S. pork industry wants to see a return of the Generalized System of Preferences trade program, which expired in 2020, seeing it as key to gaining new access to markets in countries like Thailand and the Philippines.
California regulators are giving retailers until the end of the year to clear their supplies of pork out of compliance with the state's Proposition 12 animal housing law.
Both the U.S. pork industry and the California Department of Agriculture are focused on a smooth transition and avoiding product shortages for consumers as the state implements regulations requiring all pork sold in the state to be from breeding animals not housed in crates.
Meat industry stakeholders as well as the governments of Canada and Mexico warned USDA’s proposed “Product of USA" label for meat could have discriminatory market impacts and again put the U.S. at risk of a trade war.
The Food and Drug Administration has taken baby steps in helping advance approvals of gene-edited animals for food production; however, the insistence by FDA that changing an animal’s DNA is a “drug” and out of USDA’s purview could keep innovation decades away from producer adoption.
The Supreme Court’s decision to allow California’s animal housing law to remain in place caused a furor in the pork industry and among farm-state lawmakers, who vowed to introduce legislation to overturn the ruling. But the ruling's impact also may be felt in the 25 other states that allow voters to craft laws through ballot initiatives.
The Supreme Court has rejected the arguments of hog farmers that California’s Proposition 12, which bans the sales of pork coming from sows confined in gestation crates, violates the Constitution's Commerce Clause.
Petitions asking a federal appeals court to revisit its decision on the insecticide sulfoxaflor are likely to be filed today, the deadline set by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
American pork exporters will have more time to send product to Philippine partners at familiar tariff rates following the December extension of existing duties rather than a potential increase.
Supreme Court justices are wrestling with how to balance California's concerns over animal welfare, reflected in the state's Proposition 12 standards, with the potential costs to out-of-state pork producers.
