Save Our Bacon….Crates? – Rodger Wasson
From Farm To Table Talk by Rodger Wasson
May 31, 2026 · 38 min
About this episode
The episode discusses California's Proposition 12 and its implications for pork production and animal welfare.
California voters approved Proposition 12 by a decisive 63% margin, establishing minimum space requirements for farm animals and restricting the sale of pork, eggs, and veal produced from animals confined in spaces smaller than those standards. For pork producers, the law effectively prohibits the sale of meat from pigs born to sows housed in gestation crates that fail to meet California’s requirements. State regulators and many pork processors have maintained that California’s pork demand can be supplied under Proposition 12, although compliance costs may contribute to somewhat higher prices—much as California consumers often pay premiums for products produced under stricter standards. Opponents of Proposition 12 vowed to challenge the law all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2023, however, the Court upheld the measure in a closely divided 5–4 decision.Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch concluded that states have broad authority to regulate products sold within their borders, even when those regulations affect producers in other states. The Court rejected arguments that the Constitution’s dormant Commerce Clause bars statesfrom adopting…
People in this episode
Host: Rodger Wasson
Topics covered
- animal welfare
- agriculture policy
- California legislation
- pork production
- gestation crates
- legal challenges
Keywords
- Proposition 12
- pork
- gestation crates
- California
- animal rights
- U.S. Supreme Court
- agriculture
- compliance costs
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: California, Proposition 12, U.S. Supreme Court
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