Outlook for egg bill appears dim

By Erik Wasson - 07/26/12 01:14 PM ET

The outlook for a Senate bill to require egg producers to use larger, more comfortable cages looked poor after a Thursday hearing.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said she does not know what the path forward for the egg bill will be, and ranking member Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) expressed deep skepticism about the legislation.

The bill is based on a compromise between the United Egg Producers (UEP), which represents 90 percent of the industry by volume, and the Humane Society. It pre-empts existing state standards and requires that the larger cages be used after 18 years.

Smaller egg producers are opposed to the bill, as are beef and pork producers, who worry that it will set a precedent that will ultimately affect them.

Roberts questioned whether the bill is based on sound science, whether it will increase spending on food stamps due to increased egg prices and whether UEP fully polled its own members before signing onto the deal.

The hearing featured testimony from several egg producers in favor of the bill, and from one opposed.

Egg Farmer of America member Amon Baer said that his nephew would be put out of business by the bill, since he had just invested millions of dollars in smaller cages. Baer also said he has been threatened over his opposition to the bill, but he did not elaborate. He said that his group represents "more than a dozen" producers.

The outlook for the bill is even grimmer in the House.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and ranking member Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) have spoken in opposition of California's existing egg law.

They supported an amendment included in the farm bill and aimed at striking down the ability of California to ban the sale of out-of-state eggs from hens in tiny cages.

Supporters of the bill, sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), have hoped that the egg bill could be introduced into a farm bill conference. The fate of the farm bill is also in limbo, however.

Feinstein testified that the Congressional Budget Office has found the bill will not increase government spending, and that studies have shown minimal increases in egg prices would occur. She noted that farms with fewer than 3,000 hens are exempt.

The egg bill is opposed from the left by some animal rights groups that say the Human Society betrayed its principles by compromising with UEP. The Humane Farming Association (HFA) said it had been unfairly excluded from the hearing. It blased the bill for establishing cages as a national standard, as opposed to cage free farming or other methods.