U.S. Senate’s Farm Bill 2.0 marked up without resolving Prop 12

(The Center Square) – California’s Proposition 12, the controversial livestock confinement rules impacting North Carolina farmers sending production across country, does not have a resolution in the farm bill passed by the Agriculture Committee of the U.S. Senate.

While Republican Chairman John Boozman of Arkansas touts more than 100 bipartisan priorities in what is being called Farm Bill 2.0, the 12 Republicans and 11 Democrats went straight party line in passing the markup on Wednesday. In April, the Agricultural Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives by 34-17 passed its version known as the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 getting seven Democrats on board with all Republicans.

The House proposal would block state and local governments from imposing production standards on livestock raised outside its respective borders. This means California law could not determine how North Carolina hog farmers regulate size of pens.

The next step is a reconciliation of the bills by a conference committee.

Agriculture and agribusiness are a $102 billion annual economic impact for North Carolina. It has been the state’s No. 1 industry forever. About 42,500 farms are operated on 8.1 million acres from Murphy to Manteo.

The state is eighth in the nation in value of agricultural products sold, 14th in exports.

North Carolina production is No. 1 nationally each in sweetpotatoes, all tobacco, flue-cured tobacco, and poultry and eggs. The state is No. 2 in Christmas tree sales, production of turkeys, and food-size trout sold. It is No. 3 in cucumbers and hogs, No. 4 in peanuts and broilers (chicken), and No. 5 in cotton.

Prop 12 would impact hogs, egg-laying hens and veal calves. The greatest push has come from the advocates of pork. The state has more than 2,100 permitted pig farms supporting 42,000 jobs and carries a $10.8 billion economic impact, says the North Carolina Pork Council.

The expiration of the 2018 Farm Bill was extended, via House Resolution 5371, in November as a record-setting federal government shutdown ended.

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Boozman and Republicans say the bill has more certainty for farm families, rural communities and food supply. It includes year-round sales of E15 fuel. Also engaged in the bill language is the Working Families Tax Cuts signed by second-term Republican President Donald Trump on July 4, 2025, and conservation programs.

Mike Lavender, policy director of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, in a statement to The Center Square said in part, “Today’s passage is a step forward, although the work to craft a farm bill that levels the playing field for family farmers and makes bold new investments is just beginning. Farmers and ranchers are facing steep challenges – from rising costs to unstable and uncertain markets – and status quo farm policy is not a serious solution. They need and deserve a farm bill that invests new, permanent funding across all titles rather than picking winners and losers.”

The Humane World Action Fund cited the absence of the Save Our Bacon Act in the proposal.

“As expected,” said President Sara Amundson, “the Senate Agriculture Committee leadership pointedly refused to let special interests poison the Farm Bill with the problematic and polarizing Save Our Bacon Act, which could overturn the hard-won progress states have made for farmed animals along with hundreds of other state laws that help keep communities healthy and safe.

“The Senate may not have a floor vote on the bill. Instead, now the Farm Bill process could move into a more secretive phase in which Senate leaders would have to contend with the House’s version, which comes off more as a sprawling special interest wish list, with Big Pork’s Save Our Bacon Act still sticking around like the proverbial bad penny.”

The National Pork Producers Council encouraged lawmakers to include a federal solution to stop California’s Proposition 12.

The bill, as written, codifies the Office of Seafood in the U.S. Department of Agriculture and expands credit access for commercial fishing operators; supports local and regional meat and poultry processing; modernizes farm loan programs; creates a specialty crop mechanization and automation research program; and extends the timeline for states to restore the integrity of SNAP benefits through improved administration reducing payment error rates.

SNAP is the acronym for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

North Carolina taxpayers are on the hook for a 5% benefit match of SNAP payment errors. The reason is because the rate is 7.6%, higher than the 6% threshold in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.