An outside group that bills itself as an advocate for meat producers and farmers but is led by an established animal welfare lobbyist is dropping nearly a half-million-dollar ad buy against Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, who is up for reelection this year.
A group called the American Meat Producers Association has spent or booked about $530,000 in televisions ads in Kansas that targets a provision in the Farm Bill supported by Marshall, according to the ad tracking firm AdImpact. The ads were scheduled to run from May 26 to June 2.
The measure would prevent California from banning the in-state sale of whole pork meat from pigs “confined in a cruel manner,” even if the animals were confined in another state.
The ad suggests that the legislation is a “scam” that would benefit Chinese corporations.
The group spent $248,000 in Kansas City, $164,000 in the Wichita/Hutchinson market and $118,000 in Topeka, according to AdImpact.
“Our legislative advertising campaign is highlighting how Sen. Marshall – at least at this point – has taken the side of big global pork corporations like China-owned Smithfield Foods,” the organization’s president, Holly Bice, said in an email.
The group says on its website that it advocates “for policies that promote responsible production, protect fair and open meat markets, and keep family farms thriving.”
Marshall’s spokesperson, Payton Fuller, said the group misrepresents its interests.
“The organization running these ads is a front group for San Francisco animal rights activists who helped destroy the Ag industry in California,” Fuller said.
“Our bill would ensure that Kansas producers aren’t beholden to California’s rules.”
The ads and the controversy stem from California’s Proposition 12, which was adopted by voters in November 2018.
It bars the in-state sale of whole pork meat that comes from breeding pigs or their immediate offspring that were “confined in a cruel manner.”
The law defined “confined in a cruel manner” to include preventing a pig from “lying down, standing up, fully extending its limbs, or turning around freely.”
This law sets minimum space requirements for egg-laying hens, breeding pigs and veal calves, and it prohibits the sale of products from animals raised in California or out-of-state that do not meet the standards.
Similarly, Massachusetts voters passed an initiative in 2016 that prohibited breeding pigs, calves raised for veal and egg-laying hens from being held in confined spaces.
The Massachusetts measure banned the sale of eggs, veal or pork from animals that were “confined in a cruel manner.” It eliminated containers restricting an animal’s movement such as lying down or standing up.
Critics of the California law say it is a “dangerous and arbitrary overregulation” that threatens the livelihood of pork producers.
They say it unlawfully burdens interstate commerce because California imports most of the pork consumed in the state.
“Midwest farmers and ranchers who produce our nation’s food supply should not be hamstrung by coastal activist agendas that dictate production standards from hundreds of miles away,” Marshall said in a statement in support of the legislation.
“I am proud to support this legislation that gives Kansas agriculture producers the freedom to produce safe, affordable food for all,” he said.
Supporters of the type of laws adopted by California and Massachusetts say the congressional legislation overrides the will of voters and undermines protections for farm animals from extreme confinement.
They said that eliminating laws such as Proposition 12 would harm U.S. farmers who have relied on state laws and made substantial investments to meet consumer demand for more humanely raised products.
The legislation “would decimate American family farmers,” Bice said.
“It gives global agribusiness conglomerates a gift by eliminating state laws that have provided independent farmers and ranchers a fair shot in the marketplace,” she said in an email.
“These farmers have depended on the California and Massachusetts’s markets for their survival, and if those laws — and others — are suddenly ripped away it would be economically catastrophic for them.
“This is a serious issue that will have real-life consequences for farmers.”
In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court found in favor of Proposition 12 because it did not violate the dormant Commerce Clause, which prohibits state laws that excessively restrict interstate commerce.
Now, Congress has been trying to address the Supreme Court decision through legislation.
Last year, Marshall sponsored legislation – along with Iowa U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst – in response to Proposition 12 that prohibits any state or local government from interfering with commerce and agricultural practices in another state outside their jurisdiction.
The bill has been referred to as the “Save our Bacon Bill,” or the EATS Act, short for Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression. The bill is opposed by animal-welfare advocates. The bill is opposed by Humane World for Animals, formerly known as the Humane Society of the United States.
Bice is president of the group running the ads in Kansas against Marshall.
Bice has a history of advocating for animal rights, previously working at the Animal Wellness Foundation as the director of federal Affairs and the Humane Society of the United States as a senior lobbyist and manager of the anti-horse-slaughter campaign.
Bice’s profile was detailed on Facebook by American Wild Horse Conservation when she joined that group in 2020 as director of government relations.
The Wild Horse Conservation Group said Bice had a “stellar record of achievement for animal protection in the legislative arena.”
It said she advocated for passage of the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act that established the first federal anti-cruelty law, and the Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act.
“My entire life, I have always had a concern for the welfare of animals and felt a deep connection to them,” Bice said in an interview published by American Wild Horse Conservation.
“Even as a small child, I was quite an advocate,” she said.
“Through my work on animal cruelty cases, I saw the connection between animal cruelty and violence toward people, and I discovered that animal abuse was frequently overlooked.”
However, on the website for American Meat Producers Association, Bice is portrayed as representing “hundreds of farmers and meat companies on various issues including opposing efforts by interest groups to reverse pro-farmer laws across the country.”
In an email early Thursday afternoon, Bice described the group as a “family farming organization that gives them a voice in Washington D.C.”
She said in a follow-up email that no animal rights groups funded the meat producers group.
“Most farmers strongly support animal welfare and are experts in husbandry, and it’s insulting to farmers for anyone to imply that farmers can’t be both agricultural producers and advocates for humane, responsible care of animals,” Bice said in an email.
“I believe strongly in supporting the farmers who feed our nation and the responsible care of animals.”
The Kansas Livestock Association supports the legislation in Congress and has expressed concern about how the meat producers’ group is representing itself.
“Kansans should also be aware that phony groups like the American Meat Producers Association, funded and operated by known animal rights activists, are actively attacking legislative leaders like Sen. Roger Marshall who back common-sense legislation to fix the issues caused by state laws like Prop 12 in California,” said Aaron Popelka, vice president of legal and governmental affairs for the livestock association.
“These radical activists regularly set up fake groups to push extremist propaganda on voters. Sadly, these activists have brought their California/DC-based activism to Kansas, but KLA is confident Kansans can see this dishonest ad campaign for what it is,” Popelka said in email.
The ad makes the Chinese connection because of Smithfield Foods, which is based in Virginia but was purchased by a Chinese meat producer in 2013 for $4.7 billion.
A company executive told Reuters three years ago that Smithfield was expanding its supply of pork to comply with California’s Proposition 12 but said the company would support Congress halting the law.
Smithfield issued a statement about the congressional legislation Thursday.
“Along with the rest of our industry, we support a solution that prevents a patchwork of state-by-state pork-production laws that will make food less affordable for U.S. consumers while not objectively improving animal welfare,” the company said in a statement.
