Pork: Who Will Blink First? -- August 1, 2021

This was perhaps the most interesting non-energy story last week. 

2018: Californians overwhelmingly vote to ban pork if it did not come from "humane" sources, with the law to go into effect in "early" 2022.

Fast forward, 2021: Iowa pork producers are starting the campaign to keep this from happening. 

Link to story here. Two readers sent me the link. 

The headline: bacon may disappear in California as pig rules take effect.

My not-ready-for-prime-time reply to one of the readers:

This is fascinating.

This is a "who-blinks -irst" story: Iowa producers or California voters.

My hunch: if the Iowa producers hold firm, the Iowa producers will win.

In the big scheme of things I find it a non-story.

Question: why bacon only (see headline -- this tells me this is an Iowa-pork-producer generated story). It will affect all pork products? Why bacon only?

1. If bacon/pork goes away tomorrow, I can live on beef and chicken for the rest of my life. Oh, I forget, and lamb.

2. The Iowa producers knew this was coming from as far back as 2018. It's a "who blinks first" story. Fun to watch but I have no sympathy for either producers or consumers. The latter voted for this; the former were betting that voters would change their minds by 2022.

3. One pig source said they have 300 pigs, but under new rules could only have 250 pigs. If everyone is in the same boat, I think those with 250 pigs will figure it out.

4. For breakfast, instead of three strips of bacon, two strips: healthier lifestyle.

5. Great headline story but somehow I think folks will work this out. Great headline but once I step back, I just can't too excited.

I wrote about this in 2016, two years before the California vote. 

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