Reposted from: https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/letters/2026/04/28/letter-utah-leaders-should-stand/
April 28, 2026
The Save Our Bacon Act (HR4673), included as Section 12006 of the House Farm Bill, would wipe out Utah’s livestock production standards. Harvard Law School’s analysis found over 600 state laws at risk. At least seven are Utah’s. Our entire federal delegation should oppose it.
Utah requires that cattle and bison entering the state be tested for brucellosis, tuberculosis and other diseases. Pigs must be certified free of pseudorabies. Poultry are screened for avian influenza. These rules protect farmers and ranchers from devastating outbreaks. Cache Valley alone is home to nearly 1,400 farms, the vast majority family-owned. The Save Our Bacon Act puts all of that at risk.
The bill is backed by corporations like Smithfield Foods and their lobbyists at the National Pork Producers Council, not family farmers. We’ve seen what corporate pork production does to Utah communities. Smithfield Circle Four Farms was the largest employer in Beaver County until the company shut down most of its operations in 2022, and cut 26 farm contracts in 2023. The county declared a state of economic emergency. Three years later, it’s still rebuilding.
That same industry wants Congress to override state authority, so it can keep locking mother pigs in crates so small that they cannot turn around, for months at a time. When people learn about gestation crates, they oppose them. 84% of Americans oppose caging mother sows.
Sen. Lee champions states’ rights. Sen. Curtis sits on the Commerce and Environment committees. Rep. Moore, as Republican Conference vice chair, has real pull. They should be on the side of family farmers.
The House votes on the Farm Bill next week. Call our delegation. Tell them to oppose the Save Our Bacon Act. Tell them to pick Utah’s family farmers over greedy corporations that already proved they’ll abandon rural communities.
Alex Cragun, Salt Lake City