Prop. 2 probably won't hike egg prices

With the passage of Proposition 2 on Tuesday, California voters decided to forbid the caging of farm animals in enclosures that do not allow them to stand, turn around, lie down and fully extend their limbs.

Farmers will have to remove hens from so-called battery cages and raise them in hen houses or outside yards.

Confining crates for veal calves and pregnant sows also are outlawed under Proposition 2. But because there are few veal producers in the state and the largest California pork producer plans to eliminate small crates voluntarily, the law will mostly affect the state's 20 million hens that produce roughly 5 billion eggs a year.

The measure does not go into effect until 2015.

Egg prices probably will not increase for Californians, according to a study by the UC Davis Agricultural Issues Center. That's because out-of-state farmers, who already supply Californians a third of their eggs -- and could provide more -- are not affected by the new law, so they won't have to change their housing.

California farmers' obligation to retrofit could increase their production costs by an estimated 20%, according to the study.

"The most likely outcome, therefore, is the elimination of almost all of the California egg industry over a few years," says the report, whose main author is Daniel Sumner, a professor of agricultural economics and director of the university's agricultural issues center.

But Paul Shapiro, who runs factory farming anti-cruelty efforts of the Humane Society of the United States, said that because California, the largest agricultural state, has passed this measure, other states will consider similar laws.

"Equally important, it will lead to major retailers demanding that their egg producers not confine their hens in battery cages," said Shapiro. "There won't be a dislocation issue."

Proposition 2 was championed by the Humane Society as well as other animal welfare groups, the California Veterinary Medical Assn. and the state's Democratic Party, who saw it as a move away from the cruel treatment of animals raised for food.

Opponents, including large egg farmers in the state and elsewhere and the American College of Poultry Veterinarians, decried the measure as economically disastrous for California egg producers.

Both sides of the issue waged an expensive battle that cost each about $8.5 million.

Hall is a Times staff writer.

carla.hall@latimes.com