Next week, the World Pork Expo will be held in Des Moines. As producers from across the country and around the world descend on the Iowa State Fairgrounds, California?s Prop 12 victory in the Supreme Court will likely be a hot topic over the three days.
Iowa is the country’s largest pork and egg-producing state and had been watching this case for quite a while. The court?s decision has really brought uncertainty to the industries in the future. Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig talked with IARN yesterday for his monthly chat, and we discussed the decision in more detail. The biggest strain Prop 12 will have is increasing the financial burden that small farms feel in an already depressed marketplace.
Naig says that this decision is going to have ramifications for the future. This will not just be an egg and pork issue; we have now started down a very slippery slope that can affect business and trade for the foreseeable future.
Just to play devil?s advocate for the sake of conversation, let?s say that the people behind this ballot initiative had noble motives and actually felt they were doing the right thing for the animals, and not trying to strike a blow against animal agriculture in general. For a moment let?s assume their claim to go after the large-scale, corporate-backed, farms was their true motive. This decision will have the opposite effect. Those large-scale farms will be the only ones that can afford the cost of making the necessary upgrades without a heavy financial burden. It will do more harm to those you intended to help if that was truly the endgame of those backing the Prop 12 initiative.
On top of all that, there is still more uncertainty for the economy, because what happens if the rules change yet again? The SCOTUS decision allows a single state to heap economic hardship upon economic hardship to producers, and as we said earlier, this could go beyond pork and eggs. Not only will it hurt smaller farmers, but it will also be a burden on consumers as well. Secretary Naig weighs in on that thought.
The World Pork Expo will be held at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, June 7th-9th.
