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Balanced Reporting. Trusted Insights.
Thursday, May 25, 2023
The Supreme Court’s decision to allow California’s animal housing law to remain in place caused a furor in the pork industry and among farm-state lawmakers, who vowed to introduce legislation to overturn the ruling. But the ruling's impact also may be felt in the 25 other states that allow voters to craft laws through ballot initiatives.
The Supreme Court has rejected the arguments of hog farmers that California’s Proposition 12, which bans the sales of pork coming from sows confined in gestation crates, violates the Constitution's Commerce Clause.
The halt in operations at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach was brief and union workers are now back on their jobs, but the stoppage at the largest port complex in the U.S. created a scare for U.S. meat exporters and their foreign customers, according to U.S. Meat Export Federation spokesman Joe Schuele.
Supermarket prices rose another 0.3% last month, driven in part by jumps in the cost of beef and pork, but food inflation continues to ease from the spikes shoppers saw in 2022, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.
American pork exporters will have more time to send product to Philippine partners at familiar tariff rates following the December extension of existing duties rather than a potential increase.
Supermarket prices rose another 0.7% last month, driven by continued increases in nearly every category in the store, and food costs are now up 13% over the past year.
Supreme Court justices are wrestling with how to balance California's concerns over animal welfare, reflected in the state's Proposition 12 standards, with the potential costs to out-of-state pork producers.