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In the News, Spring 2022 – Maine Enacts Right to Food Constitutional Amendment
On November 2, Maine voters approved a “right to food” amendment to the state constitution that provides residents with more individual control over their own food supply. The amendment – the first of its kind in the US – states, in part: “All individuals have a natural, inherent and unalienable right to food, including the right to save and exchange seeds and the right to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the food of their own choosing for their own nourishment, sustenance, bodily health and well-being.”
Maine has long been a leader in the food sovereignty movement, and passed a Food Sovereignty Act in 2017 that encourages local control of the food system and aims to “ensure the preservation of family farms and traditional foodways through small-scale farming and food production.” This new amendment goes even further in preserving the agricultural rights of the individual. The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association points out that the amendment shifts power from corporations to individual citizens and serves as a major step toward a more local food economy.
Sources: Maine passes nation’s first ‘Right to Food’ amendment. Modern Farmer, November 3, 2021. modernfarmer.com/2021/11/maine-right-to-food-amendment/.
An Act to Amend the Law Recognizing Local Control Regarding Food Systems and Require Compliance with Federal and State Food Safety Regulations. SP 605, LD 1648. State of Maine, 2017. mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_128th/billtexts/SP060501.asp.
Published in the Price-Pottenger Journal of Health & Healing
Spring 2022 | Volume 46, Number 1
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