Independent hog farmers raising crate-free pork found a lifeline under California’s Prop 12—a voter-approved law that sets basic space requirements for breeding pigs. Prop 12 created a market that gives family-run farms like ours a fighting chance in a highly consolidated industry.
Big Ag, including China-owned Smithfield Foods, is pressuring Congress to dismantle Prop 12 in the upcoming Farm Bill. If they succeed, the Prop 12 market—and a vital income stream for family farms—will disappear. This rollback would protect corporate pork giants while undermining independent farmers, reversing animal welfare progress, and stripping states of their right to set food standards.
We’re taking our fight to Washington, D.C.—with billboards across Union Station and Reagan Airport, a mobile billboard circling the Capitol, postcards in every legislator’s mailbox, ads in major national outlets—and now online. Farmers have been excluded from the Prop 12 debate for too long, so we’re making sure our voices can’t be ignored. Here’s what they’re seeing.
Every message, share, and donation helps family farmers fight against corporate special interests and protect Prop 12. Already, over 5,000 independent farmers nationwide have spoken out—add your voice today.
My name is Bob Street—you may have seen me featured on screens at Reagan National Airport thanking members of Congress for their support of California’s Prop 12. I’ve been farming since the mid-1960s. I’m 73 now, so I’ll have to slow down one day—but my grandson Mason, pictured here with me, hopes to carry on what I’ve built. Thanks to Prop 12, he just might have that chance.
Before Prop 12, smaller producers like me were being pushed out. The current system favors the big guys who control the market, leaving folks like us with nowhere to turn. This new market gave us the opportunity to earn a better price for our hogs, and it’s likely the reason we’re still in business today.
My name is Terry Mudd, and I farm with my brother on land that’s been in our family for over 200 years. After losing my dad in 1983, my mom, my brother, and I did everything we could to keep the farm going.
My wife, Sharon, who is pictured here with me, and I are proud to be part of a community of Midwest hog farmers working hard to raise crate-free pork. You may have seen my neighbors and me on signs around the Capitol.
Rising costs, disappearing markets, and big corporations nearly pushed us out. But then we found a lifeline in the crate-free market created by California’s Prop 12. It kept us in hog farming. Without it, we’d be in serious trouble. We’ve got kids and grandkids—we want this farm to be here for them.
My name is Brian Sjostrand, and I raise hogs with my family—pictured here with me is my daughter Ashley, who’s heading to college soon. We’ve farmed most of our lives and got back into it full-time in 2011. You may recognize our faces from signs at Union Station.
This industry isn’t easy, and with our three daughters leaving home, we’ll soon have fewer hands on the farm. What’s keeping us going is the premium we get through California’s Prop 12. Without it, we couldn’t stay in hog farming—corporations are squeezing us out everywhere else.
Prop 12 gave us a chance to keep farming and raising quality meat. If that goes away, so does the future for families like ours.
My name is Don Mudd, and together with my wife Debbie, our three sons—David, Daryl, and Daniel—and their families, we live and work on our 6th-generation family farm. Like those before us, we raise cattle and hogs, and grow corn, beans, wheat, hay, and straw to feed our animals. You may have seen our family’s faces on signs across Union Station.
We’ve always raised our pigs outdoors in a natural, antibiotic-free environment. California’s Prop 12 rewards the way we believe pigs should be raised—resulting in higher-quality pork and healthier, happier animals.
Farming this way takes hard work, long hours, and high costs, but Prop 12 created a market that makes it all worthwhile.
Corporate lobbyists may be pushing to overturn Prop 12, but House Republicans and Senate Democrats in Congress are listening to the farmers who depend on fair markets to survive. Their recent letters prove that bipartisan support for Prop 12 is growing stronger every day. This pushback shows that farmer voices are cutting through the noise in Washington, building powerful momentum to defend Prop 12 against corporate influence.
Corporate lobbyists like the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) are spreading misinformation to weaken Proposition 12. Voters approved this law to set basic animal welfare standards and create fairer markets for independent farmers. Here are the facts:
Since Prop 12 took effect in January 2024, retail pork chop prices have moved only modestly—just 6.6% across the year—a normal short-term adjustment.
❌ MYTH: Prop 12 caused a 41% surge in pork prices.
A loss of 5,000 hog farms happened between 2017 and 2022—years before Prop 12 took effect in 2024—as part of a decades-long consolidation trend driven by corporate control. By contrast, Prop 12 creates a fair market where independent farmers can compete.
❌ MYTH: Prop 12 caused the U.S. to lose 5,000 hog farms.
At least 27% of U.S. pork producers are already compliant, and consumers in California continue to find pork in stores. USDA confirms supply chains remain intact.
❌ MYTH: Prop 12 disrupts supply chains and threatens food security.
By ending the use of gestation crates, Prop 12 ensures pregnant sows have room to turn around and move. It does not apply to piglet care, so claims about crushing are misleading.
❌ MYTH: Prop 12 endangers piglets without crates.