Latest news with #CaliforniaFarmers
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump administration sues California over egg prices
The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit against California, alleging that three state laws are contributing to the rising cost of eggs nationwide. 'The State of California has contributed to the historic rise in egg prices by imposing unnecessary red tape on the production of eggs," said the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in central California on July 9. "Through a combination of voter initiatives, legislative enactments, and regulations, California has effectively prevented farmers across the country from using a number of agricultural production methods which were in widespread use — and which helped keep eggs affordable." The lawsuit takes aim at three California laws, Assembly Bill 1437, Proposition 2 and Proposition 12, which create welfare standards for farm animals and regulate egg production. The Trump administration argues that regulating eggs is within the federal government's domain under a 1970 federal law. The administration also contends that the federal law overseeing egg quality and packaging preempts state laws that seek to impose additional requirements on egg production. One California state law, AB 1437, regulates egg quality for human consumption. Prop 2 is a statewide ballot measure California voters passed in 2008 that created welfare mandates for farm animals such as egg-laying hens. The administration argues that the laws work in tandem to depress egg production and to increase prices. A third state law mentioned in the suit, Prop. 12, was passed by voters in 2018, which brought forth specific minimum-space requirements for chickens and other farm animals. Egg prices have been quite volatile this year, with increases of more than 40% due to factors including bird flu outbreaks, which were not mentioned in the Trump administration lawsuit. The average cost for a dozen eggs nationwide was $2.56 per dozen, while in California, egg prices averaged around $3.38 per dozen on July 4, according to the United States Dairy Association (USDA) Markets Overview Report. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for egg prices in May showed up to a 41% increase compared to one year ago. The next release of the CPI, which includes egg prices, is scheduled for July 15. Justice Dept. sues California again: Trump administration files lawsuit against California over transgender athletes The lawsuit is the latest in a feud and war of words with the state of California and Gov. Gavin Newsom. The suit came on the same day the Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit against the California Department of Education, alleging that the state is violating anti-discrimination laws by allowing transgender athletes to compete in school sports. The complaint, filed in federal court, alleges that California's current policies "eviscerate equal athletic opportunities for girls" by forcing them to "compete against boys" in state athletic events. A Newsom spokesperson said the state is following a 2013 law and that no court has accepted the legal theory cited by the Trump administration in the suit. In June, Newsom filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles. President Trump ordered the deployment of 2,000 Guard members to quell demonstrations and violent protests against his immigration crackdown, a move Newsom has called unlawful. Newsom accused Trump of 'inciting and provoking violence,' 'creating mass chaos,' and 'militarizing cities,' and called the president's moves "the act of a dictator." The governor said the decision to sue the Trump administration was due to a "serious breach of state sovereignty" and demanded that the president "return control" to California. How's the president faring?: Where does Trump's approval rating stand after tax bill passes? See the polls U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the egg regulation lawsuit against California is the latest Justice Department action seeking to protect American consumers from predatory commercial practices and regulatory burdens. "Americans across the country have suffered the consequences of liberal policies causing massive inflation for everyday items like eggs," Bondi said in a news release announcing the lawsuit. "Under President Trump's leadership, we will use the full extent of federal law to ensure that American families are free from oppressive regulatory burdens and restore American prosperity." Meanwhile, two animal rights groups have taken exception to the lawsuit. California has prohibited the sale of cruelly produced eggs for more than a decade, a law that has been upheld by the courts, including the Supreme Court, said Sara Amundson, president of Humane World Action Fund. "Blaming 2025 egg prices on these established animal welfare standards shows that this case is about pure politics, not constitutional law," Amundson said in a statement. 'The Trump-led Justice Department is now choosing to ignore voters in red, blue and purple states alike who have rejected the cruelty of confining hens in cages so small they can't even spread their wings. To call these commonsense animal welfare laws a 'regulatory burden' is not just dishonest, it's an insult to millions of Americans.' Due to voter and consumer demand, more than 45% of the U.S. egg industry is already cage free, added Kitty Block, president and CEO of Humane World for Animals. "Rather than accepting this reality, the Department of Justice is using our tax dollars to fight a battle that's already been settled," Block said in a statement. "This is a Justice Department misadventure that ignores the interests of the egg industry, retailers and consumers — all of whom have embraced the cage-free future. Avian influenza and other factors drove up egg prices, not animal welfare laws." The lawsuit against California also names Newsom, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and other state officials as defendants. Newsom's press office took a jab at the lawsuit in a July 9 post on the social media site X, claiming President Trump is "back to his favorite hobby: blaming California for literally everything." "Next up: @CAGovernor Gavin Newsom caused the fall of Rome and sent the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs," the post added. (This story has been updated to add new information.) This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump administration suing California over egg prices
Fast Company
11-05-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Trump abruptly stopped paying farmers to feed in-need Californians—so they fought back
Every year brings its own unique challenges for California farmers: water shortages, fires, finding laborers to do the work, bureaucrats in Sacramento adding new requirements and fees, and more. But the second term of President Donald Trump has made this year very different. As part of deep cuts across much of the government, Trump's administration chopped $1 billion from the U.S. Department of Agriculture almost without warning. This led to widespread financial pain that affected already struggling farmers and left hungry patrons of food banks in many parts of the country desperate for other sources of healthy food. On February 28, California officials warned farmers who had grown food for schools and food banks that there was funding only for work done up to January 19, despite the fact that farmers had submitted invoices for work and harvests past that date. California farmers quickly organized a phone call and email campaign over the span of seven days in early March to demand the attention of elected representatives and answers from federal officials. By March 7, their efforts were successful: They would receive pay for the fall and for harvests for the rest of this year. But their success was overshadowed by news that the program would stop at the end of 2025. For Bryce Loewen, a farmer who co-owns Blossom Bluff Orchards in Fresno County, the first freeze in funding meant that the USDA failed to hand over more than $30,000 that it owed the business for growing food to help feed Californians who could not afford it. There isn't really a good time to get stiffed for your work. But during winter, the slowest season on the farm, there's downtime, and California farmers like Loewen recently used that lull to fight to regain the money farmers were owed and help feed some of their most vulnerable neighbors. 'A farmer's instinct is to fix things,' Loewen said. 'And that's what we did.' Loewen's farm is in the small town of Parlier, California, which has a declining population of less than 15,000. On March 1, Loewen called federal officials to try to change their minds about the funding cut. Farming is a business of slim margins, and Loewen was trying to keep his farm from falling into debt, he said. Loewen was just one of many farmers in California and around the country who called and emailed officials that day. They asked why they hadn't been paid, and they described the economic benefit of the USDA funds to small farms and public health services and to agencies that feed people in their own communities who are struggling. Loewen left messages and wrote emails to Rep. Jim Costa (D-Fresno); Brooke Rollins, the secretary of agriculture; and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York. Other farmers also contacted Rollins, their local representatives, and congressional and Senate leadership on both sides of the political aisle. The impromptu campaign was somewhat successful. Six days later, the USDA agreed to pay farmers for their fall harvest and contracts for 2025, but not beyond. The USDA did not respond to calls and emails from Capital & Main about why the cuts were made or why they were restored. Neither the USDA nor Rollins have publicly acknowledged hearing from farmers about the cuts. In securing payments for slightly more than nine additional months, the farmers' relative success might offer lessons for other groups targeted by government cuts as they seek to claw back some resources for crucial programs. California may be world-famous for its beaches, Hollywood, and Big Tech, but many people don't realize that the state's vast Central Valley supplies a quarter of all food to the United States. In the Golden State, agriculture is the backbone of many local economies, from the state's southern frontier with Mexico all the way to its northern border with Oregon. This is especially true in the state's agricultural heartland. Yet many residents who live in what dust-bowl musician Woody Guthrie once referred to as the ' Pastures of Plenty ' cannot afford the fresh, locally grown food that surrounds them in the region's villages and towns. The Healthy Fresno County Community Dashboard, which publishes local health information, reported that 16% of the county's 1 million residents in 2022 were considered 'food insecure.' Those rates were higher for the county's Black and Hispanic residents in comparison to their white peers. Since 2006, the USDA has used the term 'food insecurity' to describe the status that leads to weakness, illness, and harm to families who lack stable access to food. It disproportionately affects lower-income groups in the state. Food insecurity includes the inability to afford a balanced diet, fear that a home's food supply won't last, or having to eat less because one can't afford to buy more food. An insecure food supply causes physical pangs of hunger in adults, as well as stress and depression, particularly in mothers. Limited food intake affects brain development in children, prompting stress among preschoolers and affecting a student's ability to learn basic subjects such as math and writing. In California, 9 of 20 adults with low incomes reported 'limited, uncertain, or inconsistent' access to food in 2023, according to a California Health Interview Survey. Loewen's farm helps feed some struggling Californians with the help of money through a $400 million federal program called the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program. The California Department of Social Services distributes the funds across the state through a program called Farms Together. Farmers weren't the only ones to feel the pain of the USDA cuts between late February and March 11, said Paul Towers, executive director of Community Alliance With Family Farmers. His organization helps distribute food from small farms to food banks and school districts. During a two-week period, food banks didn't receive any such food, which left people who rely on that food aid to scramble for something to eat. 'That's two weeks of lost income' for farmers, Towers said. 'And two weeks of no food.' Nationwide, 18 million Americans were food insecure in 2023, according to the USDA. Most of those people live in rural counties such as Fresno County, according to Feeding America, a national network of food banks and pantries. By March 10, news of the cuts was spreading. The online agriculture and food policy news outlet Agri-Pulse warned in a headline: 'Trump administration canceling local food initiatives.' On March 11, Fox News highlighted the cuts to farmers—who voted disproportionately in favor of Trump during his presidential campaigns—in a live interview with Rollins. 'America's Newsroom' anchor Bill Hemmer asked Rollins to justify the $1 billion cuts in food security aid to schools and food banks. Rollins offered conflicting responses. The cuts were to pandemic-era food programs and were aimed at new and nonessential programs, she said. Rollins said the program's cost had grown but didn't offer any evidence to back that up. The initial iteration of the local food purchasing assistance, the Farmers to Families Food Box Program, was a multibillion dollar pandemic food aid project started during Trump's first term. But Rollins didn't share that detail. Speaking of other cuts made the day before the interview, she added that authorities had canceled 'more contracts on food justice for trans people in New York and San Francisco; obviously that's different than the food programs in the schools, but it is really important.' The local food purchase agreement didn't, and still doesn't, favor food aid or food justice to trans people. It pays for farmers to grow food that goes to food banks and school districts. Rollins didn't acknowledge that the cuts were overzealous or the harm that they might cause. 'As we have always said, if we are making mistakes, we will own those mistakes, and we will reconfigure. But right now, from what we are viewing, [the local food purchase assistance] program was nonessential. … It was a new program, and it was an effort by the Left to continue spending taxpayer dollars that [was] not necessary,' Rollins told Fox News. On March 11, the Community Alliance With Family Farmers posted on its blog: 'The reinstatement of Farms Together is a victory worth celebrating. Through collective action, the voices of farmers and allies were heard, but the fight isn't over. Farms Together IS restored—though only temporarily.' 'Our intent,' Towers said, 'was to make sure Secretary Rollins heard directly from farmers that they were harmed by the cuts to these programs.'
