Senate Farm Bill Leaves Out ‘Save Our Bacon Act’ — For Now
Animal welfare advocates scored an important win this week when the Senate Agriculture Committee released its Farm Bill draft without the Save Our Bacon Act, a pork-industry-backed provision that would have weakened or overturned state animal welfare laws such as California’s Proposition 12 and Massachusetts’ Question 3.
Those state laws require basic space standards for certain farm animals, including pregnant pigs, calves and egg-laying hens. Supporters argue that animals should at least be able to stand up, turn around, lie down and extend their limbs, and that states have the right to set standards for products sold within their borders.
The Save Our Bacon Act was included in the House Farm Bill but omitted from the Senate draft, making its path forward more difficult. However, the fight is not over. Senators could still try to reinsert the language through amendments when the bill moves forward.
The pork industry, led by groups such as the National Pork Producers Council, argues that Prop 12 creates a costly patchwork of state rules and harms producers. But animal welfare groups, independent farmers and Prop 12-compliant producers say the opposite: many farmers have already invested in higher-welfare systems, and repealing these laws now would punish those who adapted while rewarding the largest confinement-based operators.
The deeper issue is not just animal welfare. It is whether large agricultural trade groups can use federal legislation to override voter-approved state laws, court-tested protections and consumer demand for higher standards.
For now, the Senate draft represents a meaningful victory for animals, states’ rights, independent producers and citizens who do not want industrial agriculture to erase popular reforms through backroom Farm Bill language.
But this is only a pause, not a final defeat. The Save Our Bacon language may return on the Senate floor, with Iowa senators and pork-industry allies expected to keep pushing. The next stage of the fight will be to keep the provision out of the final Farm Bill.
Read more:
https://www.thenewlede.org/2026/06/senate-farm-bill-draft-save-our-bacon-act
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5936700-senate-republicans-unveil-farm-bill
https://sofaf.org/2026/06/02/big-ag-wants-federal-power-to-override-state-food-standards/
