Bacon could get more expensive in 2024

A shakeup on the pork shelves at your grocery store is coming as pig farmers prepare for the January 1 implementation of a California animal welfare law mandating larger space requirements for pigs, cows, and chickens.

In Illinois, where the state’s pork industry is the fourth largest in the country, it’s a nearly $14 billion part of the state’s economy, according to Illinois Pork Producers Association.

Fourth-generation pig farmer Cheryl Walsh owns one of the state’s more than 2,100 pig farms which will be impacted by the new law.

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