Some policy decisions made last year could have lingering effects for some industries in the new year, including California’s Prop 12.
American Farm Bureau economist Bernt Nelson says there is a lot of uncertainty about how the market will adjust after it goes into effect, with many producers not being able to do much to prepare.
“The only pork that will be allowed for sale in that California market will have to be compliant with Prop 12, so that automatically removes many of our conventional producers from that marketplace. And so, until we see some increased demand domestically and continued demand in our export markets, we’re going to be at the mercy of whatever comes into play here.”
California accounts for roughly 13 percent of the demand for U.S. pork. Nelson says it is safe to expect that 13 percent of demand will be lost from the conventional marketplace.
