Care2 members have helped drive a fast and decisive grassroots victory in just under 48 hours! We’re delighted to see that the Senate Agriculture Committee has advanced its Farm Bill without the pork industry-backed Save Our Bacon Act.
The Save Our Bacon Act was a rider designed to preempt state-level farm animal welfare laws, most notably California’s Proposition 12, which sets housing standards for farm animals and restricts the sale of products that don’t meet them. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Proposition 12 in 2023, but pork industry groups kept pushing to override it at the federal level.
Protecting American standards has never been more urgent!
On August 4th, after news of the rider surfaced, Care2 launched a rush petition in partnership with ConnectBlue mobilizing our communities of animal welfare advocates to tell senators to reject the act and any so-called “compromise” amendments.
Care2’s petition made the stakes plain: The Save Our Bacon Act would strip away protections that voters and farmers have already built their businesses around. Family farmers who had invested in more humane, higher-welfare systems stood to lose those investments and the market advantage that came with them. It was large industrial agriculture operations and China-owned conglomerates lobbying to undercut U.S. animal welfare standards who would benefit from gutting the law.
By August 6th, just two days after the petition went live, the amendment was dead. None of this could have happened without Care2 members showing up when it mattered most. The Care2 Campaigns Team reached out with messages to our animal welfare and political audiences, reaching over 83,000 people, with our alert email earning an outstanding 3.90% click-through rate. This is a sign of just how strongly this issue resonated with supporters who care deeply about how their food is produced! That energy translated into 11,063 signatures and messages sent to senators before the petition closed as a success. The government was given a clear signal that voters want to protect farmers nationwide who’ve already modernized their operations to meet humane standards.
This victory affects all Americans who buy pork, egg, or veal products, since Proposition 12 governs what can be sold in the state regardless of where it’s produced. Animal welfare organizations praised the committee’s decision to reward farmers who did right by their animals and their communities, rather than those looking to cut corners. As Sara Amundson, president of Humane World Action Fund told The Business Journal, “This is good news for farmers who’ve already invested in more humane systems.”
In a fight that moved this fast, timing was everything, and Care2’s community delivered exactly when it counted, proving that when animal advocates mobilize quickly around issues they care about, they can create real policy outcomes!
