California’s Proposition 12, the Farm Animal Confinement Initiative, was on the ballot in California as an initiated state statute on November 6, 2018. The measure was approved. Implementation is set to begin January 1, 2022.
Why should we care if voters in a state two thousand miles away supported an initiative to establish minimum space requirements for confinement of lay hens, breeding pigs and veal calves? We should care because the costs and consequences of Prop 12 are high and far-reaching. The law provides no animal welfare or food safety benefit while potentially disrupting and causing substantial burdens on all producers, processors, distributors and ultimately – consumers.
