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Bacon a thing of the past in CA?

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    Bacon a thing of the past in CA?

    Link is to ABC new article “

    Bacon may disappear in California as pig rules take effect
    ”



    At the beginning of next year, California will begin enforcing an animal welfare proposition approved overwhelmingly by voters in 2018 that requires more space for breeding pigs, egg-laying chickens and veal calves. National veal and egg producers are optimistic they can meet the new standards, but only 4% of hog operations now comply with the new rules. Unless the courts intervene or the state temporarily allows non-compliant meat to be sold in the state, California will lose almost all of its pork supply, much of which comes from Iowa, and pork producers will face higher costs to regain a key market.

    Animal welfare organizations for years have been pushing for more humane treatment of farm animals but the California rules could be a rare case of consumers clearly paying a price for their beliefs.

    With little time left to build new facilities, inseminate sows and process the offspring by January, it’s hard to see how the pork industry can adequately supply California, which consumes roughly 15% of all pork produced in the country.

    "We are very concerned about the potential supply impacts and therefore cost increases," said Matt Sutton, the public policy director for the California Restaurant Association.

    California's restaurants and groceries use about 255 million pounds of pork a month, but its farms produce only 45 million pounds, according to Rabobank, a global food and agriculture financial services company.

    The National Pork Producers Council has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture for federal aid to help pay for retrofitting hog facilities around the nation to fill the gap. Hog farmers said they haven't complied because of the cost and because California hasn't yet issued formal regulations on how the new standards will be administered and enforced.

    Barry Goodwin, an economist at North Carolina State University, estimated the extra costs at 15% more per animal for a farm with 1,000 breeding pigs.
    Last edited by fracmeister; July 31, 2021, 10:27 AM.

    #2
    I guess butchers will pop up across the border like fireworks shops in the south!

    Comment


    • CaptainMike
      CaptainMike commented
      Editing a comment
      There are many to choose from already in southern Oregon, but the local butchers can get small-farm stock or you can contract with a local rancher for most meats, you just have to buy bulk. While not convenient for many Californians, it can still be done by anyone. Either that or they can stop voting for asinine initiatives, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

    • klflowers
      klflowers commented
      Editing a comment
      Or liquor stores on the edges of dry counties...

    #3
    California voters deserve everything they get. We local source most of our meat or pop up to Oregon (pretty much local too, AND no sales tax). We've been kicking around the idea of raising chickens, that idea might be coming home to roost. Either that or move to America.

    Comment


    • CaptainMike
      CaptainMike commented
      Editing a comment
      HawkerXP my buddy's brother, a simple retired fireman like me, just bought a house outside of Boise for $975,000! That same house listed for $325k in 2019. Of course, he's selling his long paid for family home in the Bay Area for a gazillion dollars, but still. Economies like this crash and burn quickly.

    • Oak Smoke
      Oak Smoke commented
      Editing a comment
      Can you hear that distance voice. That’s Texas! Come on down. You’ve already said you’d become a Texan instead of a relocated Californian. The door’s open.

    • CaptainMike
      CaptainMike commented
      Editing a comment
      Oak Smoke my girl is dragging her feet right now, but when she makes up her mind we'll be Lone Star bound!

    #4
    Eh. I'm not really sympathetic to caging animals in tiny, restrictive spaces and then whining about the cost of doing something a little less barbaric:

    The most memorable sight was when I went into a low, dark barn and saw 1,500 sows. These huge animals spent their entire lives inside metal cages that were so small the pigs couldn't even turn around. Their sides pressed out. They were like fat people on the middle seat of an airplane. Their sides pressed out through the bars. This is the way they lived their whole life, just producing piglets. They were like machines.

    Comment


    • Dadof3Illinois
      Dadof3Illinois commented
      Editing a comment
      ComfortablyNumb this is correct. In my younger years I worked in a farrowing house and actually the sows spent several hours a day in the open lot away from their piglets so they had time to relax and get their milk production back up for feeding time. This gave us time to get the piglets vaccinated, cut their tusks and tails.Then we would lead the sows back to their crates. Not many things are as mean as a sow when she hears her piglets screaming!!!

    #5
    This is a good topic. Try to keep the conversation focused on the ethics, etc. and away from politics if possible guys...

    Comment


    • CaptainMike
      CaptainMike commented
      Editing a comment
      Yeah, this not about who's idea is best or my candidate can whip your candidate, but it is my reaction and commentary as a Californian to the post and the legislation/referendum that inspired it. And for the record, there's politics and politician's footprints in every bite of food we eat. That's a simple fact. I'll refrain from any further comment on this. At least in the forum.

    #6
    To follow on my statement above... I do think Cali should/should have phased this in since there IS a cost and it's more reasonable to do it over a few years. But the ranchers etc should realize there's an opportunity here too. They've just been handed a huge, captive market for premium pork. Raise it humanely, market it that way and charge for it. There's no way pork raised this way will cost $1/lb at retail or even $3/lb. Charge for it.

    I just went to one of the large farmer's markets here. I occasionally buy meat from a farmer whom I've known on and off for years via market visits. Small farmer on the eastern side of the state. Raises pigs (and other things) the right way, pastured, etc. I bought some ground sausage for $6.60/lb and a small pork butt roast for... $8/lb.

    Expensive? Well.. yes and no. Obviously if you're eating it all the time and want 9lb pork butts, that's real money. But realistically, $8/lb is pretty decent on a per meal basis. Oh and the $4/lb brisket from Costco? isn't really $4, is it? After all, you trim several pounds off it, so if a 15lb brisket gives you, say, 11 pounds trimmed, it's actually $5.45/lb.

    Back to Cali - I'm more worried about people living on the margins. It's one thing to cook a 5-6lb pork butt that cost $10 and feeds the family for a couple of meals. When that costs $40 and you're paycheck to paycheck... that hurts.

    Comment


    • rickgregory
      rickgregory commented
      Editing a comment
      The stuff I buy is deeper, more fully flavored. It's not 'the other white meat'. Is it 10x better than the $0.79/lb stuff? No. But the reason you were able to buy pork that cheaply is because they're confined in tiny spaces and farmed in conditions that are, frankly, inhumane.

      End of the day, both animals are raised for slaughter, but I don't see any reason the animal should live in conditions that would appall us if a pet we cared about were in them.

    • Bruceski44
      Bruceski44 commented
      Editing a comment
      Well, i'll try it based on your description! Then i can determine for myself if animals raised for slaughter should be treated the same as our pets.

    • rickgregory
      rickgregory commented
      Editing a comment
      Bruceski44 - That's all you can do, try it and see for yourself. To me, there's value in knowing that, though the animal was raised for slaughter, it it wasn't stuffed in a tiny cage and forced to live there from birth to death but to at least lived a reasonable life before it met its fate.

    #7
    Let Californy eat cake! They voted it in, live with it.

    Comment


    • McFlyfi
      McFlyfi commented
      Editing a comment
      I didn't vote for it. I live in the wrong place. Who'll take me? Oregon? Idaho? Montana? Washington? ( I need to be able to fly fish for trout. I promise I won't try to make you like California. We've failed)

    #8

    Yikes. I enjoy this forum but I'm sorry I opened this thread.

    Comment


      #9
      Maybe pork will get scarce and/or exorbitantly pricey, but I'm a bit sceptical. They said the same thing about eggs a few years back. But there's still plenty of eggs in the stores. Even cheap ones from out of state. I don't mind paying a bit more for better quality eggs though. I love the dark orange yolks you get from properly raised hens. I'm sure pork suppliers will find plenty of loopholes in the new law. Best case scenario is the cheap stuff will still be there for those who can't afford better, but more higher quality pork will be available for those of us who appreciate it and can afford it. Don't worry folks, capitalism always finds a way.

      Comment


        #10
        I guess I am going to have to start hoarding pork belly...

        Comment


          #11
          It was pointed out on Newsmax this morning that because Kalifornication is a MAJOR buyer of bacon that most of the bacon companies will upgrade to meet the Kalifornication standards to milk that cash cow. In turn, this will drive the cost of producing bacon up and we will all have to pay more. I know, it sucks. But that's the way it works here.

          Comment


          • Murdy
            Murdy commented
            Editing a comment
            Why wouldn't a supplier maintain its current standards, give up on selling to California, and undercut the suppliers that continue to do business in California in the rest of the country. Seems like capitalism 101. I've worked for 2 places that made their own bacon, and neither sold an ounce in California.

          #12
          I'm all for treating animals better. The big factory farms will have to adjust. Pork prices may go up but so be it.

          Comment


            #13
            I’m gonna skirt the wall here since I can see both sides of this. On one hand, this seems like ham-fisted feel good legislation that got presented to a captive audience without them fully understanding the repercussions. On the other hand, I deal with farmers everyday and I would almost bet money that the ones decrying the financial ruin of this also drive a new or not more than 3 years old fully loaded diesel pickup truck.

            What we really need to focus on, as a human race is a better understanding of where our food comes from and how to create a sustainable way to ensure that a respect is fostered for what it takes to feed the world population.

            I’ll get off my thinly veiled buy locally raised and processed livestock soap box now.

            Comment


              #14
              This won’t only affect Californians or even bacon for that matter. The vast majority of pork is produced outside of CA. If a producer has to upgrade to meet the CA regs, the costs will be spread over every piece of meat they produce no matter where they ship it.

              I will not comment on my opinion on the right or wrong of the CA regs. But I will expect it to hit my wallet as a result.

              Comment


              • dubob
                dubob commented
                Editing a comment
                "But I will expect it to hit my wallet as a result."

                You will not be disappointed.

              #15
              So I am going to chime in here with a bit of wisdom. Since I just turned 63, I feel particularly qualified to pontificate, even though I have never raised a hog in my life. I did try to kill one on my uncles hog farm with a sledgehammer as a teenager, but that is another story. As my AR brother rickgregory said, I think this will greatly affect people in the lower income brackets. Any price increase in food negatively affects them. I used to be one of them; through God's grace, a little luck and some hard work I am not now (knock on wood). I am, however, in favor of humane treatment of livestock before it is slaughtered for my consumption (kind of an oxymoron there, isn't it?). I think the markets will adjust, the masses everywhere will end up paying more for pork; the price increases will not be nearly as high as the people shouting about it say they will. Pork producers will adjust.

              We of the exalted AR site, however, don't buy no stinking commodity pork anyway. We buy Duroc, Berkshire, Landrace, Yorkshire, Spotted White, Poland China (OK, I looked up everything except Duroc and Berkshire), or we source from local butchers, or we sort painstakingly through bins at Costco - I guess that is commodity, but we are picky with our commodity stuff... So aside from the general outrage at people voting for things they don't quite understand (which I am guilty of - proposition 576487a6ry revision 73c comes to mind), the world will keep turning.

              Man, if I had known I was going to be so wise at 63 I would have turned 63 years ago. Wait...

              Comment


              • rickgregory
                rickgregory commented
                Editing a comment
                We 63 year olds are wise...

                ..asses.

                Also, you're very young. I turned 63 long ago. Like last month.

              • dubob
                dubob commented
                Editing a comment
                Y'all are still wet behind the ears. I passed the 79 marker with flying colors a couple months back. And I just go down to Texas and cull my own. 😁

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