Barnyard Brawl: Farm Interests Feud over Egg Rules
WASHINGTON -- The feathers are flying over a deal the egg industry cut with the Humane Society of the United States to regulate how farms care for their laying hens.
The egg industry's dominant trade group wants the cage regulations to apply to all egg farms nationwide and one way to do that is to write the rules into the next farm bill. Other farm groups are trying to head off the rules, fearing they'll set a precedent for regulating the treatment of hogs, cattle and other livestock"You have to look at the precedent it sets. It's going to be Congress mandating a livestock production practice," said Colin Woodall, vice president of government affairs for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.
Woodall's group is so concerned about the rules that it's lobbying lawmakers not to co-sponsor bills containing the rules to be introduced soon in the House and Senate. The proponents' plan is to attach the legislation to the farm bill that Congress will try to write this year.
The rules would end the egg industry's conventional practice of keeping hens confined in "battery" cages that provide each hen an area smaller than a sheet of paper. Hens could still be caged under the new plan but only in larger cages that include areas for perching, nesting and other needs. The industry likes the rules because they provide uniform standards that every farm will have to comply with and would prevent states from banning cages altogether. The issue does not affect the safety of the eggs.
Farms in Iowa, which is by far the nation's largest egg producer, have nearly 60 million hens that produce more than 14 billion eggs annually.
"This is the industry that is saying it wants to do this. This is a matter of self determination for the egg industry," said the Humane Society's president, Wayne Pacelle.
His group would rather all hens be raised without cages but compromised on the larger cages. Under the proposed rules, hens could be raised in barns without cages at the farms' choosing. Existing federal standards require cage-free production for eggs that are labeled as organic.
The United Egg Producers, the industry trade group, did not respond to requests for comment. But the group said in announcing the agreement with the Humane Society last summer that a national standard for housing hens "is far superior than a patchwork of state laws and regulations."
The Humane Society threw the egg industry into turmoil in 2008 when it won passage of a ballot initiative in California that required farms to give their livestock enough room to lie down, turn around and extend their limbs. The Humane Society has been seeking similar restrictions in other states but agreed to drop that effort if the federal regulations are enacted. The deal is off if the legislation doesn't pass this year, said Pacelle.
One of the nation's largest egg producers, Sparboe Farms of Litchfield, Minn., originally opposed the agreement but now supports it, said Pacelle. Video aired by ABC News in November depicted hens being abused at Sparboe facilities, and the company subsequently pledged to overhaul its operations. A company representative referred questions about the industry agreement to the United Egg Producers.
Farm groups opposed to the agreement said in a letter last month to the Senate agriculture committee that Congress should reject any "unwarranted animal rights mandates" and predicted that the rules would increase egg prices.
"While we think this proposal is an unconscionable federal overreach, our gravest concern is that this precedent could leach into all corners of animal farming, irreparably damaging the livelihoods of family farmers across the country," said the letter, which was signed by the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Farmers Union and groups representing dairy, beef and turkey producers among other livestock.
Hog producers are concerned about the rules because they are under pressure to stop confining sows in gestation crates, which have been banned by ballot measures in a few states. Smithfield Foods, the nation's largest hog producer, is phasing out its use of the crates.
"You have people saying this is only going to deal with eggs. It may this time, but what's to prevent the Humane Society from coming back and broadening the legislation," said Dave Warner, a spokesman for the National Pork Producers Council.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Tuesday that the plan could stand a "pretty good" chance of being included in the farm bill given the success of some animal welfare issues in the past.
"If there is going to be regulation, and it's just done at the state level, it makes it very difficult for interstate commerce. If it's going to be done at all it should probably be done at the federal level," he said, adding that he not made up his mind yet on whether to support the egg industry plan.
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Contact Philip Brasher at pbrasher@gannett.com
