A pork producer from the Monroe City area is among 13 farmers mentioned in a lawsuit brought on their behalf challenging a new California law. Todd Hays says the measure passed by that state’s voters last year will make it difficult for nearly every producer in the nation to comply before it takes effect in 2022.

Hays says voters were swayed by emotion rather than sound science when they voted for it. He says farmers outside California had no say in how the law was crafted.

The American Farm Bureau Federation and National Pork Producers Council brought the suit on the farmers’ behalf. Hays was recently re-elected vice president of Missouri Farm Bureau.