Busted: Top 3 Myths About State Laws and Extreme Confinement of Farm Animals

On July 23, 2025, the U.S. House Agriculture Committee held a hearing on California’s Proposition 12 (Prop 12), a law passed directly by the state’s voters in 2018. Prop 12 strengthened California's farm animal welfare laws by:

• Setting minimum space requirements for egg-laying hens, breeding pigs and calves raised for veal.
• Prohibiting the sale of products (like pork, veal and eggs) in California from animals confined in ways that do not meet these standards — even if produced in other states.

The hearing also included discussion on other state laws that ban confinement of farm animals and the sale of products from farms using inhumane crates and cages to house pigs, chickens and baby calves. The hearing was dominated by trade groups representing mega-pork producers that have been advocating for overturning these laws since they were first passed. It came on the heels of the U.S. Department of Justice filing a lawsuit against California challenging the constitutionality of Prop 12, despite a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that already upheld the law.

The hearing — and so many of the discussions around confinement bans — perpetuated falsehoods about the impact of these laws and left out the perspective of thousands of U.S. farmers who not only comply with Prop 12 but are competing in a market otherwise flooded by inhumanely produced food. To ensure that these farmers were heard, we spoke out ahead of the hearing in support of animal-protection laws and urged Congress to reject any attempts to overturn them. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) also submitted letters from more than 150 farmers sharing their support for Prop 12.

Here are the top myths about confinement bans with fact-checking from real farmers:

Myth #1: Farmers are forced to comply with Prop 12, so smaller farms will go out of business.

Reality: Compliance with Prop 12 is entirely voluntary. There are 49 other states to which farmers can sell products if they do not wish to meet California’s basic animal-housing standards. Prop 12 is not a mandate, but an opportunity for farmers to sell a higher-welfare product — which consumers are demanding both inside and outside of California. Most small farms don't use gestation crates, battery cages or other forms of intensive confinement and could immediately sell into the California market if they wanted to. We learned in the hearing that 82% of small pig farmers (those raising less than 500 pigs) are currently benefiting from Prop 12!

The real pressure on independent farmers is the rapid growth of industrial, corporate animal agriculture. Four meat companies now control 55%-85% of the pork, beef and chicken markets in the United States, and more than 95% of the meat, eggs and dairy on store shelves comes from highly industrialized mega-farms. In fact, overturning Prop 12 would only further entrench the industrial system that is putting hundreds of American family farms out of business every year.

“Here in Iowa, industrial confinement operations may dominate pork production, but our customers make it clear that they want to buy pork from farmers who farm with animal welfare in mind,” said Anna Pesek, owner of Over the Moon Farm in Coggon, Iowa. “With the recent cuts to vital federal programs like the Local Food Promotion Program, Prop 12 and similar state laws that open up market opportunities for smaller, higher-welfare pig farmers like myself are more important than ever. If Prop 12 is overturned, it sends a message that there’s no room in the system for anything but the industrial status quo, and that hurts farmers who are trying to do better by their animals, their land and their communities.”

Myth #2: Prop 12 and laws like it are creating chaos in the marketplace and are responsible for high food costs.

Reality: California has had sales bans on products from cruel confinement in place since 2008. Prop 12 has been fully in effect for almost two years. California consumes 13% of the nation’s pork, and U.S. Department of Agriculture data shows that 27% of pork producers are already complying with Prop 12. California grocery store shelves aren’t empty, and American farmers are already meeting the demand for higher-welfare products in California and across the country.

Food costs are up for virtually all products, and the increases aren’t limited to animal products or even to the products covered by Prop 12. The leading drivers of higher food costs are inflation (which has driven up food costs across the board), trade disruptions, tariffs and bird flu, which has decimated egg-laying flocks.

“For our family farm, Proposition 12 isn't a burden, it's an opportunity,” shared Trisha Zachman of Feathered Acres Farm in Belgrade, Minnesota. Trisha and her family raise crate-free pigs that they sell both locally and into national markets through the brand Niman Ranch. “The stable market for crate-free pork through markets like California helps farms like ours stay viable. Rolling back Proposition 12 wouldn't just hurt the animals; it would hurt farms like ours that are already meeting these humane standards.”

Myth #3: Prop 12 is not backed by science and doesn’t reflect what’s happening on farms.

Reality: Hundreds of animal-welfare scientists and veterinarians agree that gestation crates harm pigs physically and psychologically, and research supports the specific housing requirements laid out in Prop 12. Prop 12 is also supported by hundreds of higher-welfare farmers who take pride in how they raise their animals — farmers who often invite the public and lawmakers onto their farms. The same cannot be said of industrial facilities. In fact, industrial agriculture has pushed to pass “ag-gag” laws to ban photography on factory farms and stop people from seeing the appalling conditions in confinement-based facilities.

“At White Oak Pastures, we raise animals in a way that allows them to express their instinctive behaviors — rooting, pecking, grazing — because that’s what animal welfare truly means,” said Will Harris, a fourth-generation farmer and owner of White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia. “Overturning Prop 12 would reward confinement systems that strip animals of those instincts, penalize farmers like me who’ve built regenerative operations based on dignity for the land and the animals, and put our country on a harmful downward trajectory toward more industrial agriculture.”

The truth is, Americans do not want to support animal cruelty, which is why ballot measures calling for basic farm animal welfare standards have passed by wide margins, and confinement bans have been successfully implemented in 15 states. It is inherently cruel to raise mother pigs in crates so small that they cannot even turn around or to house multiple laying-hens together in cages so small they can’t extend their wings. Animals suffer in these systems, and farmers and rural communities also suffer from negative economic and quality-of-life impacts caused by the industrial agriculture system.

We must continue to transition away from cruel confinement toward more humane and healthy farming systems. Congress should invest funding and resources to support farmers as they make this transition, not work to overturn animal-protection laws. Take action today to ensure your lawmakers know you support protections for farm animals.