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Page 8 %u2013 Australian Pork Newspaper, October 2024 www.porknews.com.auIMPROVING animal welfare typically comes at a cost to both producers and consumers.The trick is to always first convince the buying public of the intrinsic value proposition of the transition to higher welfare.If they are convinced that superior animal welfare outcomes are a win-win, they will eventually back it in at the checkout.While they may buy a little less as they adjust to incremental increases due to higher production costs being passed down the line, their buying patterns will lift over time.In July, as California businesses braced for the impact of a longdelayed animal welfare law, market watchers worried the new rules would lead to bacon shortages and sky-high prices.Worse, it was feared California voters%u2019 decision would increase pork prices across the country.By mid-August the shortage fears had proven overblown.But one thing was clear - Californians were paying more (and buying less) for certain cuts like bacon and pork loin at the grocery store.It isn%u2019t yet clear whether these trends will persist in the long term.In 2018, California voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 12, a ballot initiative aimed at ensuring farm animals have space to move around.Under the new law, instead of being confined to a small pen a breeding pig was entitled to 24 square feet of space.The initiative was backed by several animal rights groups.Supporters collectively spent more than $US9 million on the campaign, according to state political spending disclosures.The part of the law that applied to pork proved a sticking point.Pregnant sows were typically kept in narrow crates, unable to turn around.The new rules required that they be able to rotate a full 360 degrees.At the time the rule was passed, less than 1 percent of US pigs were reared in a manner that complied with Proposition 12.Yet times were already changing.Several US states, the European Union, Australia, Canada and others had passed legislation banning the use of so-called gestation crates for pig housing.As far back as 2012, companies including McDonald%u2019s and Costco committed to phasing out cramped stalls for breeding sows.What was unique about the California initiative was that it applied to all meat sold in the state, not just the products farmed there.This meant farmers in the Midwest would have to retrofit their hog operations to suit the preferences of the California clientele.Passage of the ballot initiative generated backlash from several business groups involved in growing and selling pork, including retailers, restaurants and farmers.An industry coalition describing itself as the Food Equity Alliance rolled out an analysis suggesting Proposition 12 would have a disproportionate impact on Hispanic, Asian and Black consumers%u2019 wallets because it claimed those populations tend to eat more pork.The National Pork Producers Council, an industry group, also claimed farmers would have to spend $US3000 to $US4000 to build new pens, though the trade magazine Pork Business outlined other options that would cost between $US17 and $US600 per animal.Lawsuits slowed the rollout of the pork provisions from Proposition 12 and in 2023 a case brought by the NPPC made it all the way to the US Supreme Court, which upheld California%u2019s law.It has now been more than a year since the Supreme Court ruling.The law took full effect in January 2024, after a transition period that began last July.Retail prices in the state initially saw a sharp increase, then remained roughly steady.In the first week of June 2024, bacon prices in California were up 25 percent compared with a year earlier, pork loin prices were up 1.3 percent and pork ribs were up 31 percent.In the rest of the country, bacon prices were up to a lesser extent and ribs and loin have remained roughly flat.Prices might settle out or fall as producers grow more hogs in compliant housing, said Seth Meyer, the USDA%u2019s chief economist.As of April, about 2 percent of pork produced in the US complied with California law.%u201cYou%u2019ve got some biological lags here and we might expect more noise,%u201d he said.While some of the price increase is attributable to changes at the farm level, much of it comes from Single injection. Double protection.%u2022 Easy- Convenient for the user, saving labour and time.- Minimises pig handling and stress because fewer injections are needed.%u2022 Safe- Minimal serious adverse events.- Low tissue reaction and no growth setbacks in the nursery.%u2022 Effective - Fast-acting and long-lasting protection.- Field trials support that Porcilis%u00ae PCV M Hyo keeps pigs healthy and growing throughout the critical fi nishing period in the face of M. hyo and/or PCV2 infections.- Following vaccination, PCV2 DOI lasts for 22 weeks and M. hyo DOI lasts for 21 weeks.Ready-to-use protection against both PCV2 and M. hyo.Ready-to-use, one-shot Porcilis%u00ae PCV M Hyo is:%u00ae Registered trademarks. Intervet Australia Pty Ltd (trading as MSD Animal Health). ABN: 79008467034. Copyright %u00a9 2024 Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA and its a%u009b liates. All rights reserved.Pork sausages are stuffed with a variety of flavourings, giving us choice. While we know the %u2018sausage making pigs%u2019 had no choice in their growing environments, we can promote better lives for them by choosing higher welfare sourced products and paying accordingly for the privilege.Improved animal welfare has a knock-on effectCantComment by BRENDON CANTWhile bacon comes in many forms to meet many different tastes, one always hopes that the pig which shared its bountiful body with us had a good life leading up to the big day.* continued P10