Latest News From Hogs Animal Welfare

The Supreme Court’s ruling on Proposition 12 has added “a whole bunch more uncertainty to a very uncertain market,” said Lee Schulz, Iowa State University ag economist and Extension livestock specialist.

As I approached the site of my first animal activist rally, I kept my distance. I watched two people beside a small megaphone and a bag, checking their phones constantly. I leaned in anticipating what would happen next.

Can California’s voters dictate how hogs are raised everywhere? That is effectively the question the U.S. Supreme Court is pondering in a pending case, National Pork Producers Council v. Ross. 

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker on Tuesday announced proposed legislation aimed at ending line-speed increases and “meatpacker self-inspection programs.”

Terry Wolters was one of a handful of pork producers who watched Supreme Court justices grill attorneys with questions during oral arguments on Oct. 11 in NPPC v. Ross challenging the constitutionality of Prop 12.

“If California were to win this Supreme Court case, there’s nothing stopping the state from saying, for example, you can only sell corn in California if it’s harvested with an electric combine,” says Dillard.

If you want to disrupt a government, disrupt the food supply. "Ag is critical infrastructure," says Andrew Rose, strategic advisor. “Three weeks without food and agriculture, and it’s over.”

On the same day NPPC and AFBF filed a reply brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on Proposition 12, the California Department of Food and Agriculture announced it has finally completed the Prop 12 implementation rules.

The U.S. government filed a brief to the Supreme Court supporting the National Pork Producers Council and American Farm Bureau Federation's challenge to California’s animal housing law, Proposition 12.

Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholders Services recommended McDonald's Corp MCD.N shareholders vote for the company's directors in a boardroom fight with billionaire investor Carl Icahn over animal rights.

As March prepares to make its exit this week, the U.S. pork industry received some long-awaited news. Dale Moore, executive vice president at AFBF, said it’s absolutely good news during a conversation on AgriTalk.

How much will Proposition 12 cost the U.S. pork industry? It’s a question many are trying to find answers for right now. AgriTalk host Chip Flory interviews Richard Sexton, University of California, Davis on AgriTalk.

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) told AgriTalk host Chip Flory she thought she’d seen it all. But banning bacon is ridiculous.

Is Petition 13 out of Oregon as ridiculous as it sounds? Hannah Thompson-Weeman, vice president for strategic engagement at the Animal Agriculture Alliance, weighs in on Petition 13, the PAUSE Act and Prop 12.

Animal rights activist Matthew Johnson with the group Direct Action Everywhere has been charged with trespassing at a food operation for his Feb. 5 presence outside an Iowa Select Farms sow operation in Dows, Iowa. 

Proposition 12, California’s animal welfare rule, is slated to take effect on Jan. 1, 2022. But with these new regulations still mired in a legal battle, the pork industry is left in limbo, Rabobank says.

If you notice something is not right on the farm or you see evidence of a break-in, it’s time to activate your plan to protect your farm. 

Preparation is the best defense, especially when it comes to an animal activist attack. Although no one wants to imagine an animal activist infiltrating their farm, having a plan in place is a wise practice. 

Activism is big business, with the most active animal rights groups in the U.S. bringing in more than $550 million annually in income, said Hannah Thompson-Weeman of the Animal Agriculture Alliance.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected the Meat Institute’s challenge to California’s 2018 ballot initiative that imposes new standards for animal housing.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected the Meat Institute’s challenge to California’s 2018 ballot initiative that imposes new standards for animal housing.

Proposition 12, the 2018 ballot initiative that bans the sale of meat and eggs derived from producers that don’t meet California standards, was upheld by a panel of judges in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Make sure your barn is ready for increasing summer temperatures.

Here are some of the most concerning, telling and outlandish statements made at the 2018 Animal Rights National Conference.

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