Page 4 - Michael Mongan News Today

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments in the case brought by the National Pork Producers Council, the American Farm Bureau Federation and other agriculture groups against California’s Proposition 12, which would require that…

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Plus, the Department of Justice updates the H-2A program and a new study shows climate change exacerbates farm runoff.

Pork producers went to the Supreme Court to argue that California’s regulation that bans the sale of 'inhumanely' produced pork is unconstitutional because it affects the economy of other states where the pork is produced.

David G. Savage reported in today's Los Angeles Times that, "The Supreme Court justices sounded wary Tuesday of California’s animal welfare law and its protections for breeding pigs, warning it could set off a wave of state laws that put a wide array of restrictions on products moving nationwide."

The case is important to Iowa, the nations leading pork producer, potentially blocking its sales in the nations most populous state.

The Supreme Court struggled Tuesday to draw a line for when a state can regulate commerce beyond its borders in a challenge to a California law directing the care of pigs and hogs used for pork.

The case is important to Iowa, the nations leading pork producer, potentially blocking its sales in the nations most populous state.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday weighed the constitutionality of a California law banning the sale of pork from pigs confined in spaces with too little space to move freely that industry groups have said impermissibly regulates out-of-state farmers.

The case pitted most of the pork producers in the U.S. against a California law enacted by referendum by lopsided margins.