Pork producers say there’s still a path forward for a federal fix to California’s Proposition 12, despite the issue being left out of the Senate Agriculture Committee’s version of the 2026 Farm Bill.
The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced its farm bill in a 12-to-11 vote earlier this month, but did not include language addressing Proposition 12.
According to National Pork Producers Council President Rob Brenneman, “We’d like to see those merge and be done in conference, and hopefully we got the fix. And it might be exactly what Save Our Bacon says, but we can be darn close. And we were disappointed that it did not come out of the Senate side.”
The California law sets housing requirements for breeding pigs and has raised concerns among pork producers about the potential for different production standards from state to state.
The pork industry says the House version of the farm bill does include a provision addressing Proposition 12.
Brenneman adds, “We’re sitting there with the true fix in the Farm Bill on the House side. And if we can merge those together in conference, come out with something on the other end, which is what our plan is, and we believe we can get that accomplished. And if the Farm Bill goes through, we believe we’ll be in there on that with the fix of some type through the conference.”
That means the issue could still come up when the full Senate considers the legislation, or later when House and Senate negotiators work to reconcile their two versions.
Brenneman says a solution remains a top priority as Congress works toward a new five-year farm bill.
