Bringing home the bacon has become a lot more difficult since the start of 2021. The average price of bacon in the U.S. is $7.21, which is over $2 more than the average price per pound in 2018 (F.R.E.D). You may be asking yourself “Why are these prices increasing so rapidly?” It is all because of California’s Prop 12, a proposition that was approved a few years ago in November of 2018. 

Proposition 12, also known as the Farm Animals Confinement Initiative, sets new guidelines for the minimum confinement area for specific animal species. It included breeding pigs and greatly affected the pork industry. Not only did the proposition enforce enclosure standards in California, but it also applies to any operation that sells these products within the state, including out of state businesses. In an interview with an Agricultural Science Professional, Ms. Sarvinski, she explained the disadvantages of this system, explaining that “it makes California less competitive.” She continued, “California pork producers(...) are definitely going to leave and go to other places.” Fewer pork producers being interested in associating with California markets is mostly responsible for driving up pork prices.

Although pork producers leaving the state have affected the price of pork products, the new enclosure regulations on facilities are also affecting the price. Prop 12 states that a breeding pig may not be enclosed with less than 24 square feet of usable floor space per pig (Prop12). This will require expensive modifications to the current facilities to accommodate the terms of Prop 12, adding to an increased price. While Prop 12 creates difficulties for large pork producers nationwide, it also poses challenges for the smaller pork producing operations run by families and small businesses. Sarvinski explained, “It's affected small businesses more because they have higher overhead costs, and it's easier for larger businesses to make those changes and still be able to stay in business.” The Sarvinski family sells pork and other meat products at our local farmer’s market. They had to increase the price of the bacon they sold to stay competitive with the market and ensure they were going to make a profit. “The price of our bacon is the only thing that's increased because the price of bacon increased so much at the grocery store, we felt like it was a little unfair for us to be charging and receiving so little. Our current price is $12 a pound.” This is a perfect example of the struggles that small businesses face versus larger ones. Large pork producers don’t have to worry about matching prices because they produce such a large portion of the available product, and they determine the market price.

High prices not only affect the people who sell and raise pork, but it also affects the consumer portion of the market as well. The increased prices have the most effect on the consumers because they either must accept the price or go without their desired product. Prop 12 has had an especially negative impact on the consumers who desire pork products. Sarvinski explains this saying, “For the consumer, all the prices for those products are going to go up. (...) If you are a consumer that's on a budget then that can be a real hindrance.” Some families have chosen to limit buying pork products and have switched to other meat choices instead.

The future of the meat industry is changing. With the prices for pork and other meat products constantly on the rise with no decrease in sight, it is possible that the once common protein served with every meal may become a luxury few can afford. In the interview, Sarvinski further elaborated, “50 years ago people would buy bacon and eat it every day for breakfast, and now it might be more of a special product and a special thing that they get. But I also think it'll become more of a luxury product. Lobster used to be a common food that people would eat all the time, but now it's a luxury because it's so expensive and it wasn't sustainably fished in the beginning. Even so, now that they're figuring out how to do that and it's still overly expensive. I think that's what's going to happen to meat. It's going to become more and more of the difference between rich and poor, unfortunately.” She continued, “Poor people are going to buy low-quality, crappy meat, that's already happening it really is. The pork that we see at the farmers market is much different from the pork that you get at the store. That there is already an economic divide.” It is truly amazing how something as seemingly small as a Proposition could become something as significant as the economic divide between classes.

Some may wonder about a remedy to this issue, asking if there is a way sustainable agriculture could make up the difference in supply and pricing. However, the strict restrictions set on farmers by the government would make any attempts at this ineffective and costly. At the end of the interview, Sarvinski and her colleagues commented on the situation: “The consumers are going to continue to demand more of these things, and then if that's what the consumer is demanding then that's what we have to do.(...) I don’t think there is anything that could be done to fix this.”