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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Saturday, October 19, 2024
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.
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.
The halt in operations at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach was brief and union workers are now back on their jobs, but the stoppage at the largest port complex in the U.S. created a scare for U.S. meat exporters and their foreign customers, according to U.S. Meat Export Federation spokesman Joe Schuele.
Supermarket prices rose another 0.3% last month, driven in part by jumps in the cost of beef and pork, but food inflation continues to ease from the spikes shoppers saw in 2022, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.
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.