By Scout Nelson
Iowa and 21 other pork-production states, including South Dakota, are appealing to a federal district court ruling that upheld a 2016 ballot measure in Massachusetts. This measure prohibits the sale of pork, poultry, and veal from livestock that are “confined in a cruel manner.”
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird led an amici curiae brief with the support of these states, voicing opposition to laws that impose “unworkable restrictions” on hog producers. The 2016 measure, known as Question 3, has faced multiple challenges from hog farmers and coalitions, most recently in 2023 by Missouri-based Triumph Foods.
Massachusetts law is like California’s Proposition 12, restricting the sale of meat from pigs, calves, and egg-laying hens that are confined in ways that prevent them from lying down, standing up, or turning around freely.
In May 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected challenges by pork producers against the California law. U.S. District Judge William Young dismissed most claims against the Massachusetts law, leaving only one unresolved claim, which was rejected in July 2024. Young upheld the law, ruling it banned the sale of noncompliant meat without directly impacting slaughterhouse regulations.
Bird stated, “The Massachusetts pork ban is absolute hogwash. Massachusetts does not get to tell Iowans how to raise their pork.” The brief argues that Massachusetts is imposing burdensome regulations on out-of-state farmers, which will deny them market access, harm agricultural states, and increase pork prices for consumers.
The brief emphasizes that allowing states to set their own confinement rules creates a costly patchwork of regulations. “Farmers in Iowa could invest millions of dollars to remodel their hog farms to comply with Massachusetts’s requirements only to find New York enacting a law imposing larger housing requirements per pig,” the brief states.
Federal lawmakers have attempted to pass the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act, which would prohibit states from enacting laws that impose conditions on agricultural products sold across state lines. The House Agriculture Committee’s website lists similar legislative solutions regarding state laws like Proposition 12.
Although Congress failed to pass a new Farm Bill before its September 30 expiration, there is hope for a new bill when lawmakers return on November 12.
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Categories: South Dakota, Livestock, Hogs, Poultry