The head of the National Association of Egg Farmers is reaching out to other agriculture associations to build a coalition to counter an movement by animal rights activists calling for cage-free farms, Politico Pro reported.

The Humane Society of the U.S. and other animal rights groups announced in August they would push to get a voter initiative on the 2016 Massachusetts ballot prohibiting some business from selling some meat and eggs from animals kept in small enclosures.

That prospect concerns NAEF President Ken Klippen, so he has asked American Farm Bureau Federation and well as other agriculture groups to build a coalition to fight the initiative. He has also asked Republican lawmakers to pass legislation preventing states from enacting cage-free laws, although Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) has rejected the idea, saying such decisions should be up to the marketplace.

Klippen waved off Ernst's dismissal, saying she is a freshman senator "still trying to get her head wrapped around the issues in Iowa."

"Some of the other more senior members grasp this quite clearly," he said. http://politi.co/1WdI8Ok

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