Protect The Harvest | Hog Farmers Will Get Their Day in Court

U.S. Supreme Court will review Prop 12, a law that lets California dictate farm practices in every state.

By Protect The Harvest Advisory Committee Member Gary Baise

The case involving California’s Proposition 12 was distributed for conference eight times in the U.S. Supreme Court! This means there was a lot of opposition to the case. Yet, on March 21, 2022, a sufficient number of justices agreed that the National Pork Producers Council v. Ross case should be heard by the full Supreme Court.

If you haven’t heard about this case, pay attention, as it could impact how you do business even if you don’t grow hogs for a living. The state law seeks to ban the sale of pork from hogs that don’t meet the state’s arbitrary production standards, including pork raised on farms outside California. If the law is allowed, any number of states could begin imposing bans based on arbitrary standards on products shipped into their state. If the Supreme Court allows the law, a patchwork of state-by-state arbitrary rules could spring up causing an interstate trade nightmare for not only farmers but anyone who produces anything.

A number of organizations representing agriculture are thrilled the Supreme Court will hear the case and applaud the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Burau Federation for taking the writ of certiorari to SCOTUS. The issues in the NPPC case are,