Arkansas Senator John Boozman, Ranking Member of the Senate Ag Committee, traveled to Indiana Monday with Senators Mike Braun and Todd Young to hear from producers and talk about the upcoming Farm Bill.
Crop insurance and labor issues were two consistent themes throughout the day, as was the Supreme Court’s ruling on California’s Prop 12.
Indiana pork producer David Hardin shared with the senators, “As we’ve looked at converting our individual sow stalls to group housing, the numbers that we’ve seen are going to be somewhere in between $3,000 to $4,000 per sow to retrofit our facilities.”
Hardin also shared that if he were to make the investment to become Prop 12 compliant, it would take him somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 years to recoup that investment. And there are no guarantees that another state won’t “move the goalposts” on him again.
Boozman understands Hardin’s frustration.
“This is a terrible decision. And then also, it’s a terrible precedent. Not only for what’s happened to pork, but other industries too. If you wind up having multiple states when you’re trying to produce a product, it makes it really, really difficult.”
American pork producers are hopeful that a legislative fix can happen that could overturn Prop 12. Some were hopeful that legislative fix could happen in the Farm Bill. Both Braun and Boozman dashed any hopes of that happening Monday
“The problem is, with this administration, they’re very much like the California administration,” Boozman told Michigan Ag Today. “I don’t see President Biden signing a bill that overrules them. So, it’s a difficult situation. We’re going to be working with our various groups like Farm Bureau and the pork producers to see if we can figure out a path forward.”
The Supreme Court upheld California’s Prop 12, a ballot measure that prohibits the sale of pork, eggs, and veal not produced according to the state’s arbitrary production standards, back in May.
Hear the full MAT interview with Sen. John Boozman below.
