Arizona Sued Over Cage-Free Eggs Rule on Restaurateur’s Behalf
Courtesy Arizona Department of Agriculture
Arizona small business owner Grant Krueger was already running his restaurants on razor-thin margins before the state Department of Agriculture mandated that only cage-free eggs be sold in Arizona. The Goldwater Institute and Pacific Legal foundation have filed suit on Krueger’s behalf, challenging the agency’s mandate, which they say violates the Arizona Constitution.
Over Krueger’s 34 years in the restaurant business, said he’s seen first-hand the impact of reckless government policy, including inflationary pressures, wage mandates and COVID decrees. Now, at a time when restaurants and restaurant-goers alike are already struggling with inflated food prices, the new cage-free egg rule will increase costs, while poaching his rights and scrambling the rule of law, according to Goldwater.
“I had no seat at the table for any of this,” said Krueger, who buys more than 2,000 eggs per week to supply his three Tucson-area restaurants, Union Public House, Reforma Modern Mexican and Proof Artisanal Pizza. “Unaccountable, unelected bureaucrats shouldn’t be able to arbitrarily impose these kinds of harmful mandates on small business owners like me.”
The egg rule wasn’t passed by the Arizona Legislature. Cage-free eggs are more expensive to produce than conventional methods—so much so that the mandate could impose up to $66 million in increased costs on Arizonans, according to Goldwater. But rather than go through the proper lawmaking process on critical policy questions, AZDA bureaucrats usurped the legislature’s lawmaking authority, creating a brand-new policy that affects the entire state—all while acting with zero checks and balances.
According to the Humane League, Arizona was the 10th state to enact such a mandate. “Arizona prohibited the production and sale of eggs from caged hens, joining nine other states in protecting egg-laying hens at the state level: Utah, Colorado, Michigan, Washington, Oregon, California, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Nevada,” according to the Humane League.
“In the fight to free hens from battery cages—brutal metal enclosures as small as filing cabinet drawers—state-wide legislation and regulation is one of the most powerful ways to enact change,” according to the Humane League’s website. “In writing new regulations to protect egg-laying hens from a lifetime of mistreatment and misery in confinement, Arizona is making crucial progress for chickens, not just within the Grand Canyon State but also beyond its borders.
“By 2025, all eggs laid or sold within the state of Arizona must be 100 percent cage-free. This means that, once the rule is fully implemented, over seven million hens will be spared from life in extreme confinement every single year,” according to the Humane League.
“According to the new rule, Arizona farmers are required to provide egg-laying hens with at least one square foot of floor space—an important upgrade to the harsh conditions of battery cages, which confine each bird to an area no bigger than the surface of a small iPad per animal,” according to the Humane League.
According to the Arizona Department of Agriculture, small producers with fewer than 20,000 egg-laying producing hens are exempt from this cage size requirement standard. The rule had been slated to be enforced in October 2022, but a delay was necessary due to the national egg shortage caused by avian influenza. The mandate does apply to retail sales. Egg producers must apply for and receive certification and be registered with the AZDA before selling their eggs.
“The Arizona Constitution is clear: lawmaking is the job of Arizonans’ elected representatives, not unelected regulators,” said Goldwater Staff Attorney John Thorpe. “But bureaucrats are trying to go around the lawmaking process to impose a policy that only helps the government’s favored special interests while hurting everyone else.”
“The legislature cannot give regulatory agencies like the Arizona Department of Agriculture the power to make the law,” said Adi Dynar, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. “Sweeping policies, like the cage-free egg rule, which substantially increase prices for businesses and consumers, must be made by the people’s representatives, not bureaucrats.”
Read the lawsuit here.
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Doctors Group Files Complaint Over ‘Wood Milk’ Ad
In April, the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service approved an ad that features “The White Lotus” actress Aubrey Plaza mocking plant milk. But the now-viral “Wood Milk” ads violate laws forbidding federal agricultural promotions from depicting products in a negative light, according to a complaint filed with the USDA Office of Inspector General by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a nonprofit public health advocacy organization.
Using a fictitious product named “Wood Milk” as a stand-in for plant-based milks, the ads deride plant-based milks.in
The “Wood Milk” campaign violates the statutory prohibition against advertising that is “false or misleading or disparaging to another agricultural commodity” and the regulatory prohibition against “unfair or deceptive acts or practices with respect to the quality, value or use of any competing product,” the Physician Committee’s complaint says.
It also violates a federal law that says USDA milk advertising dollars can’t be used to influence legislation or government action or policy. On Feb. 23, the FDA announced new proposed guidelines that would allow plant-based milks to be labeled using the word “milk.” The agency invited the public to submit comments by April 24, before final guidelines would be established. The “Wood Milk” ad campaign was launched before that comment period closed. On May 1, the comment period was extended to July 31. The “Wood Milk” campaign has run continuously since then.
The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service administers the federal commodity promotion and research programs, commonly referred to as “checkoff” programs. The USDA approves all “checkoff” advertising and is responsible for reviewing and verifying all nutritional claims.
The Physician Committee’s complaint requests that the Office of Inspector General issue a recommendation that the “Wood Milk” ads stop and that the milk “checkoff” issue corrective advertising that explains the benefits of plant-based milks.
“The ‘checkoff’ is a government program,” said Physicians Committee President Neal Barnard, MD, FACC, adjunct professor of medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine. “It is one thing for it to promote cow’s milk. It is quite another thing to mock the products that many nonwhite Americans choose for health reasons.”
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USDA to Provide Aid to Organic Dairy Producers for Marketing
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will provide assistance for dairy producers with the new Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program. ODMAP is established to help mitigate market volatility, higher input and transportation costs, and unstable feed supply and prices that have created unique hardships in the organic dairy industry. Specifically, under the ODMAP, USDA’s Farm Service Agency is making $104 million available to organic dairy operations to assist with projected marketing costs in 2023, calculated using their marketing costs in 2022.
“Organic dairy producers have faced significant and unique increases in their marketing costs, compounded by increases in feed and transportation costs and the limited availability of organic grain and forage commodities,” said FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux. “Without assistance, many organic dairies, particularly small organic dairies, will cease production, which not only impacts the domestic supply and consumption of organic milk but also the well-being of many rural communities across the country. This program will keep our small organic dairies in operation as they continue to weather a combination of challenges outside of their control.”
FSA will begin accepting applications for ODMAP on May 24. Eligible producers include certified organic dairy operations that produce milk from cows, goats and sheep.
Adam Warthesen, co-chair of the Organic Trade Association’s Organic Feedstuffs Relief Task Force, and senior director of government and industry affairs for Organic Valley said: “With unprecedented organic feed costs and inflationary pressures over the last couple of years, resources like ODMAP are really going to matter as farmers plan for the rest of this year.”
Britt Lundgren, senior director of sustainability and government affairs at Stonyfield, said: “The costs facing organic dairy today are uncommon and putting serious strain on operations. USDA is right to step in and offer support, and this is a good first step. The alternative is we lose family farmers. We look forward to working with USDA to cover more of the actual costs organic dairies are facing.”
Lia Sieler, executive director of Western Organic Dairy Producers Alliance, said: “We welcome the monetary resources allocated to dairy farmess through ODMAP with much anticipation. Input costs have been at an unprecedented high with no foreseeable changes and farmers are struggling to keep up with these high costs at their current pay price for the specialty products they produce. Farmers are struggling to continue producing a quality, safe and nutritious product with the current costs of doing business. We thank USDA with the help of many members of Congress for stepping in, hearing our voices and working diligently to get money pushed out as quick as possible to help alleviate some of this pain. Our work is not done, but this is a major win for our industry in a time of such uncertainty.”
Chris Adamo, vice president of public affairs and regenerative agriculture policy with Danone North America, said: “Recent increases to cost of feed and overall inputs have significantly impacted organic dairy farms, and on behalf of Horizon Organic, we are grateful for USDA’s thoughtful work and strong support for the farms that supply our customers’ milk.”
How ODMAP Works
FSA is providing financial assistance for a producer’s projected marketing cost in 2023 based on their 2022 costs. ODMAP provides a one-time cost-share payment based on marketing costs on pounds of organic milk marketed in the 2022 calendar year.
ODMAP provides financial assistance that will immediately support certified organic dairy operations during 2023 keeping organic dairy operations sustainable until markets return to more normal conditions.
How to Apply
FSA is accepting applications from May 24 to July 24. To apply, producers should contact FSA at their local USDA Service Center. To complete the ODMAP application, producers must certify to pounds of 2022 milk production, show documentation of their organic certification, and submit a completed application form.
Organic dairy operations are required to provide their USDA certification of organic status confirming operation as an organic dairy in 2023 and 2022 along with the certification of 2022 milk production in hundredweight.
ODMAP complements other assistance available to dairy producers, including Dairy Margin Coverage and Supplemental DMC, with more than $300 million in benefits paid for the 2023 program year to date. Learn more on the FSA Dairy Programs webpage
More Information
To learn more about USDA programs, producers can contact their local USDA Service Center. Producers can also prepare maps for acreage reporting as well as manage farm loans and other programs by logging into their farmers.gov account. If you don’t have an account, sign up today.