Why the Current Farm Bill is Bad for Animals

Update June 24, 2026: Great news! The "Save Our Bacon Act" language was not included in the released version of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry’s draft of the Farm Bill. While this is an incredible win, the fight isn't over, and it's up to all of us to make sure that the final version of the federal Farm bill does not include any language that restricts state laws that protect farm animals. Take action here! 

The “Farm Bill” is an important piece of federal legislation that has widespread consequences for farm animals, as well as for consumers and farmers. While the current bill’s supporters are promoting it as legislation that helps “farmers, ranchers, and rural communities,” the truth is that the recently passed House version of the farm bill supports “Big Ag” and includes dangerous language that aims to subvert the will of the people by overturning state animal welfare legislation that banned extreme confinement of farm animals.

The bill, officially titled, “The Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026,” funds and authorizes programs within the Department of Agriculture. It is an omnibus bill (a massive piece of legislation that combines many policies together into one package), which will shape agricultural and animal welfare policies for years to come. 

In May, the House of Representatives passed a version of the Farm Bill (H.R. 7567), which includes an exact copy of the “Save Our Bacon Act” (H.R. 4673). This legislation, which has been pushed by the pork industry, aims to overturn groundbreaking laws like Question 3 in Massachusetts, Proposition 12 in California, and animal welfare laws in other states, especially those which banned the sale of pork that comes from pigs who are held in gestation crates.

Gestation crates are a form of extreme confinement where mother pigs are trapped for their entire pregnancy, a period of about four months, only to have their newborn piglets stolen from them in order to supply the meat industry. These metal cages are so small that the pigs cannot turn around, groom themselves, interact with other pigs, or move more than a few steps. Many of the mother pigs on factory farms are impregnated over and over again, so these poor animals suffer the majority of their lives in this cruel and extreme confinement.

The gestation crates also prevent mother pigs from interacting in a natural way with their piglets. In nature, pigs create a nest to birth their babies and spend the first few months of the piglets’ lives nursing, playing, and teaching them how to forage and groom. Gestation crates prevent this maternal behavior and cause psychological harm as well as physical harm to the females confined within them. Factory farming operations treat animals as mere commodities, but pigs are intelligent, sentient beings, and gestation crates only increase their suffering.

The pork industry has repeatedly challenged states’ extreme confinement bans in court, but the animal welfare laws have been upheld, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Sneaking the unpopular, “Save Our Bacon Act” into the Farm Bill is Big Ag’s latest effort to disregard the will of voters and undermine public actions to protect farm animals.  

Although the U.S. House of Representatives passed a version of the Farm bill that included the "Save Our Bacon Act" language, this dangerous language was not included in the recent U.S. Senate committee version of the bill. Moving forward, we need to continue speaking out for farm animal welfare by letting our federal senators know that their constituents are against any version of the final Farm bill that includes language to remove existing state animal protection laws!

 To do this, please call and email your two U.S. Senators and tell them to vote against any version of the Farm Bill that includes the “Save Our Bacon Act” or any language similar to Section 12006 of the House bill, which aims to rollback states’ rights to protect the public, implement voter approved legislation, and improve the lives of farm animals in the U.S.

Thank you for standing up for farm animals!