Proposition 2 Does not Solve the Chicken and the Egg Problem. Vote No.

There’s no doubt that industrial-farms horribly mistreat chickens, pigs and veal calves.* Sponsored by The Humane Society, Prop. 2 tries to rectify this problem by requiring farms to house holding pens and cages that are large enough so that a chicken, sow, or calf can stand up and turn around in it.

Farmers have until 2015 to change their operations.  All objective analysis shows that the retail price of California-produced eggs won’t go up all that much, maybe a couple of cents. For us consumers it’s not a big deal, but in the food business world of razor-thin margins, those couple of cents is bad news for egg-producers.

But screw those cruel factory farming egg-producers, right? Well…sorta kinda not really. First off, there is no real pork or veal industry in California. Those Yes-On-2 commercials with the cute little piggies are a fiction. Prop. 2 isn’t saving pigs and calves because there really aren’t any to save. What California does have is a $400 million/year egg business, which is why Prop. 2 made it to the ballot. Prop. 2 is pretty much identical to laws passed in a few other states (which is why the pork and veal stuff is in there), the difference is the chicken cage requirements.

If Prop. 2 passes, California would be the first state in the country to have chicken-cage requirements. This requirement is only for eggs produced in California, eggs shipped from other states and sold in California are not subject to the Prop. 2 requirements. Opponents of Prop. 2 are concerned that cheaper out-of-state eggs, with lower production costs, will flood the California market leaving our own egg producers at a competitive disadvantage and may not do much to help improve the treatment of chickens.  As the Los Angeles Times eloquently put it, “we fear the result of Proposition 2′s passage would not be better treatment of hens but merely the export of their mistreatment.” If you’re interested in more details, you can read all about it in this report from UC-Davis.

Prop. 2 means well, but at the end of the day this is not a state issue, this is a federal issue. The USDA or Congress need to create a uniform chicken cage regulation that applies to all states, that way states aren’t punished by the market for treating their animals properly.

However, some people don’t agree with my reasoning. They think that Prop. 2 laws are going to eventually be passed in every state. Says the California Majority Report:

Why would 13 Iowa egg producers dump a quarter million dollars into an opposition campaign to a California proposition that would increase Iowa egg producers’ market share?…If anything [they] would be giving money to the Yes side. That’s business, right? Make your profits where you can by digging into the markets of your competitors.

Something doesn’t fit here. Maybe, just maybe, the outside egg producers that have dominated the finances of the No campaign are afraid that the old adage, ‘as California goes, so goes the nation,’ applies in this situation.

It’s a good point but it fails the reality-check. The Iowa agribusiness giants are making a simple business decision — spend a little bit of money fighting the law in one state or risk spending gazillions fighting the law in multiple states. Either way, they’ll eventually win since there’s no way this law is going to pass in mega-farm states. If Prop. 2 fails, the out-of-state egg-producers will gladly exploit California’s competitive disadvantage.

And here’s some more realpolitik for ya . if Prop. 2 does pass, California egg-producers will challenge this law all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Our chicken farmers will argue that the state’s cage-law places them at such a competitive disadvantage that it amounts to an unconstitutional undue burden on interstate commerce, they’ll likely win and Prop. 2 will be overturned. Of course, if all states were required to follow cage requirements, there would be a level playing field and no commerce clause challenge.

A USDA regulation or an act of Congress is the real solution to the chicken cage problem, this is not something that Californians can resolve at the ballot box.

The Johnny California Editorial Board reluctantly recommends a NO vote on Proposition 2 and encourages people to write their Congressperson or Senator to get a federal law passed (yeah I know, that doesn’t really work unless like a zillion people do it..but you get the idea).

if you really want to gross yourself out and learn more about the issue, check out Michael Pollan’s excellent book The Omnivore’s Dilemma.