Reposted from: https://www.thegazette.com/opinion/save-our-bacon-act-won-t-save-rural-iowa/article_e222cc8b-79b8-4b4e-a9c2-20e583b3b177.html
August 16, 2026
Apparently, our bacon needs saving.
“Anyone who supports a mandate like Prop 12 isnʼt someone who can genuinely represent the people of Iowa, especially not our farmers and our producers and Iowa agriculture,” Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ashley Hinson said last month, Iowa Capital Dispatch.
“… You either stand with the radical vegan activists who donʼt know the first thing about farming, or youʼre like me: You stand with Iowa agriculture,” Hinson said.
Wait, can we still eat bacon with tomatoes and lettuce?
Hinson is leading the charge for the “Save Our Bacon Act,” which seeks to slaughter Proposition 12, a California law enacted by voters that includes animal welfare requirements livestock producers must meet to sell their product in the Golden State. Iowa farm groups loathe the law, love the status quo and want Congress to bar states from enacting laws that affect agriculture in other states.
Prop 12 requires that sows, instead of being locked into small gestation crates, get 24 square feet of space to turn around or lay down. Oh, the horror.
Sen. Chuck Grassley calls it hogwash. Former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a Democrat, once told the House Agriculture Committee that Prop 12 will mean “chaos” in the pork market. Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig says it undermines the “American way of life.” Under Iowaʼs “Ag-gag” law, sows canʼt comment.
Read the rest of the article on The Gazette’s website.
Todd Dorman