Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014 | Volume 210 | Number 36 | 40 cents | iowastatedaily.com | An independent student newspaper serving Iowa State since 1890.
116
Which comes first?
square inches
67 square inches
California law puts the chicken before its eggs, threatens Iowa egg producers By Dylan.Roth @iowastatedaily.com
T
he chicken comes before the egg according to U.S. District Court Judge Kimberly Mueller. Iowa and five other states filed a lawsuit Oct. 2 to overturn the 2010 California law that requires eggs coming into the state to be from chickens held in larger cages. Mueller dismissed the lawsuit. The California law, which will go into effect Jan. 1, 2015, requires at least 116 square inches of space per chicken. That is slightly smaller than a standard sheet of legal paper. The industry standard is currently 67 square inches per chicken. The law only applies to shelled eggs. Producers of liquid egg products, such as egg whites, do not face the same constraints. “We’re about to see how a state law is going to impact other states,” said Lee Schulz, professor of economics in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Iowa is the number one producer of eggs in the country, and California imports more eggs than any other state. “When you look at the distribution of Iowa eggs, it’s the East Coast and the West Coast that make up the large market,” Schulz said. Iowa’s egg industry depends
heavily on California. About 4 billion — 9 percent of all eggs produced in the United States — are sent to the California market. Egg producers in Iowa and other states are not required to build new facilities, but they will be unable to sell their eggs in California if they do not. “It’s likely that Iowa will build new housing to conform to the standards because the alternative is to lose the California market,” said Dermot Hayes, professor at the Iowa State Center for Rural and Agricultural Development. The construction of each new individual chicken cage will cost about $26. It will cost Iowa more than $100 million to build new housing for chickens whose eggs are destined for the California egg market, Hayes said. Chad Hart, eco nomics professor at the Iowa State Center for Rural and Agricultural Development, said that the impact of the law on the Iowa egg industry may be less significant than many think. California can only limit the number of eggs coming into their state market. Eggs that do not qualify for the
EGGS p8
Week promotes awareness for disabled students By Dakota.Carpenter @iowastatedaily.com Disability Awareness Week kicked off Sunday with an open house at the Student Services Building. Disability Awareness Week is designed to promote awareness of students with disabilities through events and speakers. Students were invited to the open house to learn more about what Disability Awareness Week will look like at Iowa State. Brandon Keesling, junior in industrial technology, works at the Student Disability Resources Office and said that this week will give faculty, staff and students the opportunity to learn about disabilities within the ISU community. “[Disabilities are] pretty
Courtesy of Thinkstock
In order to continue selling eggs to California, Iowa egg producers will need to spend roughly $100 million total for each chicken to have 116 square inches of space — the size of the yellow box. Currently, industry standards are 67 square inches of space per chicken which is depicted by the orange box.
diverse. It ranges from anything physical to mental and all forms of severity,” Keesling said. Disability Awareness Week comes from National Disability Employment Month with more of a focus on students because that is who the Student Disabilities Resources Offices serves. The Student Disability Resources Office has worked to organize a week of events such as the open house. Steve Moats, director of Student Disability Resources, said events will offer a glimpse into what disabled students experience daily. “The events of the week are really intended to help people gain more understanding about the diversity of our student population here at Iowa State,”
AWARENESS p8
Branstad, Republican Party candidates attend assembly By Makayla.Tendall @iowastatedaily.com Gov. Terry Branstad and other Republican party candidates for the Nov. 4 midterm election gathered at Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity Monday to rally voters. Branstad, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds and Rep. Steve King gathered in the basement of the fraternity to talk about why they consider themselves as the future of Iowa. Adam Gregg, candidate for attorney general, Paul Pate, candidate for secretary of state, and Jeremy Davis, candidate for Iowa Senate in the 23 district, were also in attendance. Jon Laudner, senior in management information systems and president of ISU College Republicans, said the event provides great background on candidates for voters who want to take part in early voting. “I had one lady email me here two days ago and say she was brand new to politics and just wanted to get involved,” Laudner said. “She’s never voted
before, and she wanted to come to something like this and see all the candidates. That’s why I’m kind of excited about tonight. It’s your one-stop shop.” Nolan Zumbach, junior in agricultural studies and president of Alpha Gamma Rho, helped organize the event. Zumbach had an internship with Branstad’s campaign last summer and said he knew Branstad wanted to make an appearance on campus so he thought the fraternity would be a good place to host the event. “Everyone’s been pretty supportive as far as helping out. I don’t know if everyone in the house is necessarily going to vote for Branstad, but when it comes to getting stuff done, everyone in the house is usually willing to help,” Zumbach said of his fraternity brothers. Nearly 100 Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity members and Republican supporters attended the event to hear the candidates speak on why they are qualified for the positions to represent Iowa. Branstad, who is already an honorary member of Alpha
Tiffany Herring/Iowa State Daily
Terry Branstad speaks at at an early voting rally at the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity on Oct. 11. Other Iowa Republican candidates also spoke at the event.
Gamma Rho, said his track record of creating jobs in Iowa, balancing the budget and advocating for the agricultural industry speaks for itself. “Iowa’s an agricultural state. I’m really proud to say you have record enrollment at Iowa State, and I’m really proud to say you have record enrollment in agriculture,” Branstad said. Branstad and King also reiterated their intentions to expand agriculture and ethanol production.