In this case, the chicken comes before the egg--and both come before the farmer.
California crafted a law six years ago called Proposition 2 that required producers to have double sized cages for their chickens if their eggs were to be sold in California. This is different than in most of the country, in which chickens live in cramped confined cages. California is very progressive in this particular mindset.
But according to NPR, the farmers are less than pleased. Not for the sake of the chickens, but because of the precedent a law like this sets for them. That's why six attorneys general, including Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, have filed a lawsuit against California, feeling that the law oversteps its bounds. "We can't have our farmers and ranchers at the whim of California's voters, and that's why we filed the lawsuit."
This law has mandated that producers of eggs have to either change all of their methods and spend millions of dollars, or lose millions of dollars by being cut from the California market share, and the attorneys general feel this is beyond unfair.
Other organizations are also disagreeing with the law, including cow and pig farmer unions and associations. They fear a precedent for such action toward farmers does not bode well for their own businesses.
While some farmers are getting ready to spend the dough to make the eggs fit under the law, others are getting ready to file legal action, and no one in the farming community is happy. Organic farmers and farmers who already have their farms set up under these regulations aren't worried though. They're the cock of the walk.
