Pork Industry Challenges Massachusetts Gestation Crate Ban

A pork processor and farmers are suing Massachusetts in the latest fight against state livestock housing laws.

Missouri-based Triumph Foods and five farmer plaintiffs say Massachusetts’ law is preempted by federal law and punishes packers for practices that are legal in the states where they operate.

Triumph filed the lawsuit July 25 in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.

Bay State voters approved a ballot question in 2016 that established minimum housing size requirements for breeding pigs, laying hens and veal calves.

Under the law, breeding pigs must be able to turn around without touching the sides of their enclosure. These rules prohibit gestation stalls, small pens that have long been used in the swine industry.

The law applies to farms in Massachusetts, and makes it illegal for businesses to knowingly sell meat from a tightly confined sow or the immediate offspring of such an animal.

The lawsuit says the industry will need years and millions of dollars to come into compliance.

Massachusetts amended the laying hen section of the law in 2021.

The lawsuit tries a variety of legal arguments and follows the Supreme Court’s May decision to uphold California’s similar swine housing law.

In that case, the National Pork Producers Council argued California’s law would illegally burden interstate commerce because most of the state’s pork is produced elsewhere.

Massachusetts’ law was stayed until that decision was announced, and it’s now on hold at least through Aug. 23.

New Jersey’s governor signed prohibitions on tight confinement of sows and veal calves on July 26, the day after the Massachusetts lawsuit was filed. New Jersey’s law applies only to animals raised in the state, not to meat from other states.

Siding with farm groups, congressional Republicans have introduced legislation to block state restrictions on how farm animals are raised.

The American Veterinary Medical Association says any sow housing system comes with trade-offs.

A gestation stall allows individual feeding and care of sows, but the small space restricts normal behaviors. Group housing affords sows greater movement but also risks aggression and competition for resources.

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New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has signed a law prohibiting the tight confinement of sows and veal calves. The animals must be able to lie down and turn around.

Livestock organizations and congressional Republicans have bashed a Supreme Court decision on Proposition 12, which allows California to regulate how pork sold in the state is produced.

California’s pig confinement standards law not only affects producers in that state, it also affects those who raise pork sold in California, which could mean headaches for East Coast farmers.

Phil Gruber is the news editor at Lancaster Farming. He can be reached at 717-721-4427 or [email protected]. Follow him @PhilLancFarming on Twitter.