April 21, 2026
South Carolina has a host of regulations governing the production of farm animals. These rules protect the people of the Palmetto State by, for example, prohibiting the importation of cattle and poultry without certain health certifications. The farm bill pending in Congress would federally preempt our state’s ability to promulgate such rules, putting South Carolinians at risk as well as residents of any other state with the temerity to pass laws governing their own agricultural standards and practices.
Buried on Page 744 of U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson’s “Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2026” is the so-called “Save Our Bacon” Act — a Washington power grab that seeks to overturn states’ farm animal welfare standards in places such as California by taking a scythe to the whole country’s legal sovereignty.
The proposed law is overbroad in the extreme — prohibiting states from enacting “any condition or standard of production on products derived from covered livestock not physically raised in such State or subdivision.”
It’s a giveaway to some of the biggest agricultural interests, such as China’s Smithfield Foods, which seem unwilling to abide by some state requirements that farm animals be raised with enough space to turn around.
As a report from Harvard Law School points out, “Save Our Bacon” would “throw state and local legislators and regulators across the country into limbo regarding the enforceability of their own livestock and food provisions.” In legislating a win for producers who don’t want to play by state rules, Congress would ensure that the rest of us lose.
South Carolinians should have grave concerns about efforts to override state law just to curry favor with the largest meat producers — chief among them Smithfield, America’s largest pork producer. When it comes to who would benefit most from the ability to challenge state agricultural laws, foreign conglomerates top the list.
More than one quarter of producers — even some of the biggest names such as Hormel and Tyson Foods — are already adjusting their husbandry practices to conform with evolving state animal welfare requirements. Smaller producers that have already done so stand to lose their investments entirely if Congress caves to the biggest names in agriculture.
Most critically, for small and independent farmers, laws such as California’s offer a lifeline. Independent farms are on the decline — the number of U.S. hog farms has diminished by at least 70 percent since 1980 due to snowballing corporate consolidation. States with higher animal welfare standards constitute a much-needed marketplace for farmers employing traditional husbandry practices. Many consumers don’t want industrial meat products pumped out by factory farms like the multistory high-rises that Smithfield has pioneered in China. They want to feel good about their food. They voted at the ballot box, and they’re voting with their dollars. It’s the free market at work.
Moreover, courts already have ruled repeatedly against attempts to challenge California’s Proposition 12 under the interstate commerce clause. In 2023’s National Pork Producers Council v. Ross, the Supreme Court firmly shot down arguments that the California law places an undue burden on the flow of goods between states. The fact that we’re still having this debate is an affront to small farmers, including many of the more than 22,000 farmers in South Carolina.
Large lobbying interests in D.C. don’t speak for all South Carolina producers, nor do they represent all farmers in the 49 other states. But if they get their way in the newest farm bill, they will undoubtedly affect us all, making a mockery of self-governance and state sovereignty in the process.
The new farm bill is up for review in the U.S. House Rules Committee. The entire South Carolina congressional delegation — including gubernatorial candidate Ralph Norman, who sits on that committee — should stand up against federal overreach and protect states’ rights to pass laws reflecting the health and welfare of their own citizens.
John Cleveland is a senior fellow at Wilberforce Institute. He previously worked for Gov. Henry McMaster and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham.