Legislators should know what they’re sponsoring

By Adam Gray

Developing legislation is complicated. Ten years representing the Valley in Sacramento taught me you can do more harm than good if you’re not careful and competent.

John Duarte is neither, and his mistakes in Congress will hurt California farmers and consumers.

Duarte is co-sponsoring HR 4417, the EATS Act, or Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression. It is a misguided attempt funded by the pork industry and a Chinese multi-national corporation to take away the rights of California voters to set standards for the food they eat. If it becomes part of the Farm Bill, the EATS Act will jeopardize America’s food security.

That’s why so many Republicans and Democrats are against it.

Like most legislation, this is complicated. But understanding the nuances of a bill before you put your name on it is what competent legislators do.

In 2018, Californians voted nearly 2-to-1 in favor of Proposition 12, requiring more humane treatment of hogs destined for California’s markets. The law echoed 2008’s Proposition 2, which required chickens to be freed from cages.

I did not support either proposition. Farmers know their business better than animal activists. But the people spoke and, as usual, California farmers responded.

After Prop 2 passed, egg producers realized California consumers are willing to pay an additional 5 or 6 cents per egg to feel better about how animals are treated. So, farmers invested millions in cage-free henhouses.

Since then, companies like Costco, McDonald’s, Denny’s and Raley’s offer only cage-free eggs. Today, 35% to 40% of all laying hens live in cage-free facilities, including 11 million in California.

As originally written, the EATS Act would have undone California’s cage-free law and turned investments by California egg producers into financial losses. Farmers in places with far lower standards – Mexico, Texas, Iowa – could have used the old methods to raise laying hens and sold cheaper eggs, pushing California farmers out of the marketplace.

That’s why California producers went to Washington and set Duarte straight. Eventually, the language that would have cost California egg producers so much was removed.

But what about the part of the EATS Act that gives China greater control over the pork we eat? 

Last year, when the Supreme Court upheld the rights of California voters – and voters in states across America -- to establish their own food standards at the ballot box, major pork producers in Iowa, Texas and Beijing became infuriated. Instead of investing in better hog barns, they spent millions to sponsor legislation to remove voters from having any say in how food is produced. The EATS Act is designed to negate Prop 12 and any laws like it.

Taking away the right of Americans to make their own decisions is something far too many Republicans like Duarte are happy to do.

In this case, the EATS Act will make winners of a few big pig producers but turn the 1,300 farmers who are already meeting Prop 12 requirements into losers. Their investments would be lost – as would the jobs of farmworkers and compliant processors.

The biggest backer of the EATS Act is the National Pork Producers Council, which counts Smithfield Foods as one of its largest contributors. Through its 16 different brands, Smithfield controls 26% of the U.S. pork market.

Who owns Smithfield Foods? In 2013, the company was bought by the WH Group of China.

When it comes to raising pigs, China has a spotty record. In 2018, African swine fever hit China’s big pig farms, wiping out 28 million metric tons of production. Swine fever spread, in part, due to how sows were housed -- crammed into tiny gestation crates similar to those used in Iowa, Arkansas and North Carolina.

Now, China’s pork proxies in America are fighting efforts to improve how pigs are raised here. That’s not only a threat to California farmers, it’s a threat to our food security.

Rep. David Valadao and 15 other Republicans wrote that Smithfield’s backing of EATS provides a perfect “example of Chinese infiltration of American agriculture.”

Like representatives Jim Costa, Pete Aguilar, Jimmy Panetta and 165 others, I will stand with California farmers and consumers against the EATS Act.

If John Duarte wants to sponsor legislation to help China’s biggest pig farmer in taking away your right to choose, he should know the cost.

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Adam Gray served 10 years in the California Assembly and is a candidate for the 13^th Congressional District, which reaches from Coalinga to Lathrop and includes Merced County and parts of San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Madera and Fresno counties.