California egg law may lead to ag war between states

A California law that bars eggs from states that fail to provide roomier cages for hens could lead to beef, pork and other Iowa products being banned from the West Coast state, Iowa agricultural leaders say.

A federal judge threw out a six-state case late Thursday that asked the court to strike down a California statute barring the sale of eggs there that were produced by hens in cramped cages. Iowa, the nation's largest egg producer, was part of the suit.

"One of the reasons the U.S. is prosperous is because we have free trade between the states," said Dermot Hayes, an agriculture economist at Iowa State University. "This opens the doors for states to put barriers against other states.

"And you can always say those barriers are driven by environmental or social restrictions. But in reality you just want to protect your own producers," Hayes said Friday.

The California law is intended to ensure animals are treated humanely, its supporters say. Many farmers view the law as interfering with efficient, scientifically sound production practices.

The law, which will go into effect Jan. 1, requires at least 116 square inches of space per chicken. That's slightly smaller than the size of a sheet of legal paper, which is 8.5 inches by 14.

The industry standard is 67 square inches, or a little smaller than a 10-inch by 7-inch rectangle.

"Obviously, I'm disappointed and think it is unfortunate that this court failed to address what I believe is an effort to unconstitutionally limit the ability of Iowa farmers to access California's consumers," said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey. "Evaluation of additional legal options to address this situation needs to be done."

Iowa had joined Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma in pursuing the lawsuit earlier this year, claiming the California law violated the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.

U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller dismissed the suit, saying the states did not prove California's law would hurt their citizens, only some egg producers.

"It is patently clear plaintiffs are bringing this action on behalf of a subset of each state's egg farmers ... not on behalf of each state's population generally," Mueller wrote in her decision.

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said his office is reviewing next steps.

"We're considering our options on behalf of the governor and the state of Iowa," Miller said in a statement.

Jimmy Centers, a spokesman for Gov. Terry Branstad, said the governor plans to continue "fighting for the state's agriculture industry."

"The governor believes that this case demonstrates the very reason the commerce clause was adopted — to prevent states like California from passing burdensome regulations that are a detriment to other states," Centers said.

Kevin Vinchattle, chief executive officer of the Iowa Poultry Association, said he was concerned the ruling would open the doors to more regulations that could hurt Iowa's agricultural industry.

"If they can do this for eggs, I don't know what prohibits them for doing it to anything else we produce in Iowa," Vinchattle said Friday.

Northey and Hayes agreed, saying the barriers could extend beyond agricultural products like eggs, beef and soybeans and include manufactured goods.

California could decide it's unhappy with the wages paid Iowa workers and ban Winnebago RVs or Deere tractors, in their view.

"Just find something you don't like about a state's production practices" and vote to put up a barrier, Hayes said. "Say we want to get rid of California wine. All we have to do is say you shouldn't use ground water for irrigating crops. Then we can stop them from exporting their wine to us."

Iowa produced more than 14.5 billion eggs each year in 2011, 2012 and 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Of those Iowa-produced eggs, more than 9 percent were sold to California between July 1, 2012, and June 30, 2013, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Iowa eggs made up 30 percent of all of California's egg imports during that time.

The Humane Society of the United States, which helped defend the law in court, praised the move, the Associated Press reported.

"We are delighted that Judge Mueller has dismissed this baseless lawsuit, and ordered that it can never be filed again," said Jonathan Lovvorn, the organization's chief counsel for animal protection litigation. The judge's opinion found "that their entire theory for why California's food safety and hen protection law will harm egg farmers is totally without merit."

California voters approved a 2008 ballot measure that required pigs, calves and egg-laying hens to be raised with enough space to allow them to lie down, stand up, turn around and fully extend their limbs.

California legislators later expanded the law to ban the sale of eggs in the state from any hens that were not raised in compliance with its standards.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.