Group meets with lawmakers to discuss trade, year-round E15, Prop 12 and farm bill.

Northeast Iowa dairy farmer Megan McAllister sees California’s Proposition 12 as a slippery slope that could eventually impact her dairy operation in Dubuque County.

On Iowa Farm Bureau’s first national policy trip of the year to Washington last week, McAllister and her husband, Ted, Dubuque County Farm Bureau members who farm near New Vienna, urged Iowa lawmakers to consider legislative action to mitigate the rule’s effects on hog producers and prevent similar regulations from spreading to other agricultural sectors, such as dairy or poultry.

Prop 12 establishes minimum space requirements for certain farm animals and bans the sale of products from animals not raised according to these standards, even if produced outside of California.

“I look at Prop 12 as a domino effect,” McAllister said. “If they can do that within the hog industry, it’s a trickle-down effect to everything else ..., and dairy seems to be a big target. We really need to just take care of Prop 12.”

Mitchell and Bradi Sievers, Buena Vista County...