Naturally, California liberals love to regulate things, even (or especially) if that means they are regulating the business of other states. Of course, that would be no different when it comes to the pork industry.
California voters predictably bought into environmentalist tales of animal cruelty in farming, voting overwhelmingly in favor of Proposition 12 in 2018, which bans the sale of chickens, veal calves, and pigs raised in conditions environmentalists don’t approve of. Because they think that animals think like humans, that means fewer fences and more space, which is a particular problem for pig farmers.
This means that, although agriculture-rich California actually has a near nonexistent presence in the pork industry, state bureaucrats will be inspecting farms across the country to ensure that their “animal welfare” standards are up to code with the Golden State’s rules. If not, they can’t be sold in California, which consumes roughly 15% of all pork produced in the United States.
The less disruptive result here would be that Californians cut themselves off from pork, thanks to their own gullibility. The other possibility is that farmers bend over backward to try and keep access to California, substantially raising their costs and, by extension, raising the price of pork across the country.
California environmentalists are no doubt pleased with those possibilities. Pricing more (usually poorer) people out of eating meat to combat climate change is a popular tenet of environmental activism right now. They couldn’t have asked for a better policy from a state that loves to try and force environmental standards on the rest of the country.
Hopefully, the National Pork Producers Council and American Farm Bureau Federation win their legal challenge. If not, there could be wholesale changes to the pork industry, with skyrocketing costs for farmers and prices for consumers. Economic lockdowns and now inflation have made their mark on the country, and California’s regulatory zealotry could be right behind them.
