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POULTRY TIMES, May 20, 2013
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UEP points out that polling last year showed that voters overwhelmingly support such legislation and the Congressional Budget Office indicated that passage and introduction added no government cost. Senator Feinstein also reported that a survey by an independent research company, the Bantam Group, found that consumers support the industry transitioning to larger cages with enrichments by a ratio of 12 to 1. “Importantly, the Congressional Budget scores this legislation as having no cost, and a study by Agralytica, a consulting firm, found that this legislation would not have
a substantial price effect on consumers,” the senator said. In addition to the increased space per hen, the legislation would: yy Require that, after a phase-in period, all egg laying hens be provided with environmental enrichments such as perches, nesting boxes and scratching areas. yy Require labeling on all egg cartons to inform consumers of the method used to produce the eggs: “eggs from caged hens,” “eggs from hens in enriched cages,” “eggs from cage-free hens” and “eggs from free-range hens.” yy Prohibit feed- or water-withdrawal molting to extend the laying cycle, a practice already banned by the UEP Certified program.
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yy Require standards approved by the American Veterinary Medical Association for euthanasia of egg-laying hens. yy Prohibit excessive ammonia levels in hen houses except during short periods of adverse weather conditions. yy Prohibit the transport and sale of eggs and egg products nationwide that don’t meet these requirements. “The proposed legislation will help ensure the American consumers continue to have a wide variety and uninterrupted supply of eggs at affordable prices, and that farmers have a level playing field in all 50 states,” said David Lathem, UEP chairman. UEP, which represents farmers
Oppose However, another egg group — the Egg Farmers of America with members mainly in the Midwest — opposes the legislation. The group says passing “one size fits all” legislation will take away a producers’ freedom to operate in a way that is best for their animals. “More importantly, it will ultimately limit consumer choices and increase food costs for American families,” the Egg Farmers of
America stated. They claim that federally mandated animal welfare production practices in other developed countries “have not shown a measured improvement in animal welfare. But it has caused significant increased costs of production, caused irreparable harm to family farms and been proven to increase food costs for those countries’ consumers.”
To pass The House and Senate bills must be passed in identical wording for the legislation to become law. Any changes in language will require a conference committee to work out differences.
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We are a registered 25b FIFRA Product
producing approximately 95 percent of the nation’s eggs, voiced its support of the legislation in meetings with members of Congress during the group’s annual legislative board meeting in Washington.
yy The H-2A guest worker program should be replaced with a new program that permits workers to remain employed in the United States year-round. The program should allow entry to a sufficient number of workers to meet agriculture’s needs; should permit them to remain in the United States for three years with the ability to come back to the U.S. thereafter upon meeting a requirement to return to their home country; and should balance the interests of employers and workers along the lines of an agreement reached in April 2013 between representatives of these groups and a bipartisan group of senators. yy Undocumented agricultural workers should be eligible to apply for a “green card” in 5-7 years if they continue working in agriculture during that time. These workers should have legal status (sometimes called a “blue card”) during the transition period. yy Legislation should be bipar-
tisan and address the major issues in this important debate, including border security and the status of workers in non-agricultural industries.
EPA position The United Egg Producers is also asking members of Congress to tell the Environmental Protection Agency to stop its efforts to create a comprehensive, national survey or database of livestock and poultry producers. Instead, UEP said, the EPA should work with producers to find alternative means to ensure producers can comply with the Clean Water Act and the Confined Animal Feeding Operations rule. In 2012, the EPA began to informally collect information on livestock and poultry operations after rejecting rulemaking plans to require producers themselves to submit the data. USDA, the Department of Homeland Security and producers had ob-
jected to the rulemaking because the collection of the data and development of a national database raised security and biosecurity concerns. However, UEP stated, in February 2013, the EPA Office of Water, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, released to three environmental organizations information collected from 34 states about an estimated 85,000 to 100,000 cattle, dairy, swine, layer, broiler and turkey farms and farmers across the country. The agency also failed to review and screen the information for any person, private and confidential data. The EPA has since redacted such information and asked for return of the original files and destruction of any copies. UEP is also asking Congress to tell the EPA to institute new and appropriate management controls in the Office of Water. “Lastly, EPA must always and in all instances protect personal, private or confidential information about farms or farmers,” says the UEP request to Congress.