Iowa legislators pass another ag-gag provision

Iowa legislators passed yet another ag-gag provision in a state farm bill last week, the Des Moines Register reports. Specifically, the language says that anyone present at a “food operation” without the consent of the operators is trespassing. This is state lawmakers’ third attempt at cracking down on meat industry whistleblowers who pose a perceived threat to ongoing operations. The change comes as livestock farmers have been forced to “depopulate”—an industry euphemism for euthanize—their herds on massive scales due to Covid-19-related supply chain disruptions. In recent weeks, activist groups released video footage of the deaths of thousands of pigs in a confinement facility after owners shut off the ventilation and turned up the heat. State senator Ken Rozenboom, a sponsor of the bill whose livestock operation has been targeted by activists, blamed “left-wing, anti-agriculture, coastal liberals.”