.png)
Food Is Politics: Farmers Go to D.C. to Fight for Animal Welfare
- Bob Benenson
- Apr 23
- 4 min read
Farmer Fly-In Sought Support to Block Bill That Would Sustain Inhumane Practices
Exposés about inhumane conditions on many factory farms have shocked the majority of Americans who tell pollsters that they care about animal welfare. One of the most offensive practices is the use of gestation crates, narrow pens that allow sows to only stand up or lie down.
In response to those concerns, voters in California and Massachusetts passed ballot propositions that bar the sale of meat from pigs, as well as chickens and veal calves, that have been subject to such confinement. This prompted efforts by members of Congress allied with industrial meat interests to seek to undermine those state laws by legislation.
Their proposal, known as EATS (for Ending Agriculture Trade Suppression), has failed for several years to gain serious traction, and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the state laws in a 2023 decision. But supporters of the measure keep trying.
Farmers from Illinois and other states participated recently in a fly-in to lobby members of Congress to continued to block efforts to stymie the California and Massachusetts laws. One of these farmers — Jody Osmund of Cedar Valley Sustainable Farm in Ottawa, Illinois — provided his perspectives in the essay below.
———————————————
Three weeks ago, I landed in Washington, D.C., while U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) was holding the floor of the Senate for his historic 25-hour marathon filibuster.
I was in D.C. with a coalition of farmers and meat companies to fight the EATS Act, a proposal floating around Congress for several years that attacks state-level efforts to end extreme abuses of farm animals. It is a zombie proposal — first proposed over a decade ago by a House member who left Congress in disgrace — that refuses to die.
Farmers from elsewhere in Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, South Carolina and Arkansas were coming, too. And we were joined by pork companies — Niman Ranch, True Story Foods, Butcher Box, North Country Smokehouse, Grass Roots Co-op and egg company Kipster — that use humane animal welfare practices and sell into California and Massachusetts, states that have led the way with laws that bar the extreme confinement of livestock.
The title of the proposal may sound benign, but the Ending Agriculture Trade Suppression (EATS) proposal is not. It’s a broadly written bill that would take away the ability of states to adopt their own agriculture laws and place it firmly into the hands of the federal government. The aim is to negate the laws in those two states, which were enacted by popular vote via ballot propositions.
California’s Prop 12 and Massachusetts' Question 3 mandate that pork sold in those states come from farms that allow their mother pigs to stand up and turn around and move a bit during gestation. (It also has provisions providing these protections for veal calves and chickens.)
Gestation is the 100+ days it takes for baby pigs to develop inside a sow. Imagine being a 600-pound creature confined to a 2’x7’ cage for all that time. You can only stand up, lie down and gnaw the metal bars of your prison.
As if this weren’t bad enough, the originator of the proposal was Steve King, a controversial U.S. representative who during his 18 years representing a western Iowa district was notorious for comments that were oddly sympathetic to white nationalism. In 2019, Republican leaders finally had enough: They revoked his committee assignments and he lost his seat in a 2020 Republican primary.
The animal cruelty practices that are embedded in the EATS Act are antithetical to how we raise our hogs on our Cedar Valley Sustainable Farm. Even though I don’t sell pork in California or Massachusetts, these states’ initiatives are examples of a rising tide lifting all our boats.
Over the past 30 years, cage-free egg laws have raised public awareness of humane production methods, increased farm profitability, AND improved the welfare of millions of hens. When the Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of Prop 12 in 2023, farmers, consumers and millions of hogs could look forward to another rising tide.
I led the Illinois delegation. Joining me were farmers from southern and central Illinois, as well as a representative of Niman Ranch, which sources hogs from Illinois farms and throughout the U.S.
Over the next two days, we met with legislative staffers of six House members and four senators. Politicians from both sides of the aisle oppose the EATS Act. For our allies on the right, the hot buttons are states’ rights, open markets and distrust of foreign competition (mainly China). For allies on the left, it is fighting against market consolidation, and for economic opportunity and animal welfare. We asked everyone we met with to oppose the EATS Act.
Only one of the offices we met with was dismissive of our position.
The farmer with us from Representative Mike Bost’s district sells more than 100,000 Prop 12-certified hogs per year and has invested millions in his operation that also provides jobs for dozens of employees. If we defeat the EATS Act, he’ll be able to grow his operation. If it passes, it will eliminate the market opportunity provided by Prop 12 and Question 3–and the certainty that state laws provide.
This is a high-stakes effort.
[Editor’s Note: Illinois Stewardship Alliance, the leading state policy advocate for the local food and farm community, recently held a more cordial meeting with staffers in Rep. Bost’s district office, but the EATS Act, as a piece of federal legislation, wasn’t on the agenda.]
But we are making “progress!” Since I got back, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst re-introduced the EATS Act into the Senate, but under a different name: the Food Security and Farm Protection Act. When things are not going your way, REBRAND!
This zombie cannot hide. Illinois farmers and the other Prop 12 qualified operations and companies across the country will keep working to make sure it finally dies.
Comments