CA Voters Pass Cage-Free Egg Proposition With Consequences for Veal and Pork

California voters yesterday approved a ballot proposition requiring that all eggs sold in the state come from cage-free hens by 2022. Proposition 12, which also sets new minimum cage size requirements for breeding pigs and calves raised for veal and sold in California, leads by a commanding 60 percent of votes tallied so far, the Associated Press reports.

Egg production is a $1 billion industry in California, and as of last year, about two-thirds of the state’s egg-laying hens were caged. Going forward, Prop 12 requires them to have 1 square foot of floor space by the end of 2019, and to be cage-free entirely (with accommodations including scratching posts, nests, and perches) by the end of the year 2021.

Proposition 12 builds on an earlier measure, Prop 2, which voters passed in 2008 and which took effect in 2015. That law banned cages for hens, calves, and pigs that prevented their movement — but it didn’t offer specific size requirements and didn’t apply to out-of-state farmers selling their wares in California. Now, by 2020, calves raised for veal must have 43 square feet of space, and breeding pigs need 24 square feet of space in their pens by 2022.

Prop 12 was opposed by groups like the Association of California Egg Farmers and National Pork Producers Council, who predict consumers will pay more for eggs, veal, and pork as a result.

“Passage of Prop 12 will not benefit the consumers with higher prices, nor the chicken experiencing higher mortality in cage-free farms,” Ken Klippen, President of the National Association of Egg Farmers, said in statement. “Facts are stubborn things and those outcomes are facts.”

According to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, Proposition 12’s passage will indeed result in increased prices for eggs, pork, and veal, since farmers will have to remodel or build new housing for their animals. The California Department of Food and Agriculture expects to pay, too. To conduct oversight, the added workload could cost the department $10 million annually.

The California Pork Producers Association also lamented the proposition. Because the state imports much of its pork products, where most is produced by methods that won’t conform to Prop 12’s requirements, the association predicts an increase in pork prices.

Still, the law’s passage is cause for celebration among supporters like the Sierra Club and the Humane Society of the United States, which backed the measure financially. From their perspective, California could be just ahead of the curve: In an agreement reached with the Humane Society, major egg purveyors like Target, Walmart and Whole Foods, will sell only cage-free eggs by 2025. Other major egg-buyers, like McDonald’s, have already made the switch.

“The passage of Proposition 12 is ground-breaking for the welfare of animals and has raised the bar at an important time in our consideration of what farm to table means in this country,” said Sara Amundson, president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund, in a statement issued today. “Californians have resoundingly voted to acknowledge that further expanding the humane treatment of animals matters in our society and we applaud them.”

• California makes cage-free hens a state law [AP]