California law imposes new limits on pork producers in NC

A recent decision by the United States Supreme Court could impact pig farmers in North Carolina. The court upheld a California law that bans the sale of pork in California from farms that confine pregnant pigs in gestation crates.

The new regulations go into effect July 1.

In the short term, the Supreme Court decision could benefit North Carolina consumers, but it could have lasting repercussions for the pork industry. It was those pork producers who sued – and lost – to have the law overturned, arguing that since California imports a majority of the pork sold there, the law written in California would place a burden on pork farmers in other states.

In North Carolina, where 89% of pig farms are family-owned, some small farmers are worried the new regulations could put them out of business.

Jan Archer is one of them. She has been farming pigs for 47 years on her 160-acre farm in Wayne County.

"I have sows in stalls and sows in pens," she said. "Some of my sows would be compliant but not all of them. And that means that my farm is not."

The average gestation crate – the standard used in most pork production – is 6.5 feet by 2.5 feet. Prop 12 requires that pigs have 24 square feet to move around.

Archer says there's more to it than that.

"It's a minimum of 24 square feet, but the animal has to have enough room to completely turn around, so in effect that's at least 6x6, 36 square feet," she said.

To accommodate, North Carolina pig farmers would have to expand facilities or reduce the number of pigs they are able to raise.

Archer says either is a no-go.

To comply with California's Prop 12, Archer says, she would have to build two more buildings at a cost of about $1 million per building.

It is an investment that doesn't make sense to her. "This farm is not worth a million dollars," she said.

Expansion is not an option. North Carolina has a moratorium on new or expanded hog farms.

A reduction in the number of animals would also cut into Archer's bottom line.

"That would not pay my employees," Archer said. "It wouldn't be worth it to produce that few animals because I can't make a living on that."

"That means that I can't add any sows, I can't build another barn," she said.

Roy Lee Lindsey, CEO of the NC Pork Council, said the law is less about animal welfare than about reducing pork farming overall.

"Efforts like Prop 12 that are brought by animal rights extremists are only aimed at what goes on your plate and limiting the amount of meat that goes into our diets," he said. "We want to be as efficient as we can, and we can't do that if we aren't taking care of our animals."

In California, 63% of voters approved Prop 12. Activists like PETA'S Amber Canavan view it as a win against factory farming.

"People care about animals, clearly, when they are voting these kinds of laws into place," she said.

Any limit on the ability of North Carolina pork farmers to export to California may benefit buyers in the Tar Heel State. They could see a greater supply of pork and therefore lower prices.

That doesn't help farmers like Archer.

"Everybody is losing huge amounts of money right now," she said.

Any financial impact on family farms will come on top of rising corn and fuel costs.

"We're going to see significant consolidation, and small farms like mine are going to go away," she said. "Small family farms are going to go away because we can't compete."

Ten states ban the use of gestation crates, but only California bans the sale of meat from pigs raised in the crates.