Iowa Farm Bureau Vice President Brian Feldpausch and other livestock farmers urged Congress to pass legislation protecting interstate commerce at a press conference last week with Rep. Ashley Hinson (IA-02). 

Hinson sponsored the Save Our Bacon Act in the U.S. House of Representatives to protect access to interstate commerce for Iowa farmers and lower grocery prices for consumers by prohibiting state and local governments from interfering with the production of livestock in other states. 

Laws like California’s Prop 12, which sets space requirements for all whole pork cuts sold in the state no matter where the animals are raised, increase costs and create uncertainty for farmers and consumers, Feldpausch said. 

“The Save Our Bacon Act addresses an issue that’s much bigger than just agriculture or pork. It’s about Interstate commerce,” he said. “One state shouldn’t be allowed to regulate how farmers and businesses operate across the entire country.

“If every state can impose its own standards on everyone else, we’d have nothing but a patchwork of conflicting laws and regulations that no farmer, manufacturer or business would be able to realistically meet and navigate. Today it’s pork, but tomorrow it could be beef, it could be dairy, it could be eggs or it could be any product that’s sold across state lines. This is going to affect every family, farmer, every business and everyone that serves customers in America.”

Language providing relief from laws like Prop 12 was included in the farm bill passed by the U.S. House in April but isn’t part of the Senate farm bill draft released by Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman. 

“Farm Bureau members are grateful that the House acted, and we thank Congresswoman Hinson for her leadership on it,” Feldpausch said. “Now it’s time for the Senate to do their job and send the Save Our Bacon Act and the farm bill to the president’s desk for his signature.” 

Other speakers at the press conference included Marshall County hog farmers Tom Mead and Blake Edler, Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA) President Dean Frazer of Grundy County, former IPPA President Trish Cook of Buchanan County and National Pork Producers Council President Rob Brenneman of Washington County.