New law to strengthen Maine’s Right to Food takes effect
AUGUSTA — Today, a new law introduced by Senator Craig Hickman, D-Winthrop, went into effect after being passed by the Legislature earlier this year. LD 124, “An Act to Protect the Right to Food,” builds upon the firm foundation of Maine’s first-in-the-nation constitutional right to food, which was ratified with 61% of the vote in 2021.
LD 124 protects the right to grow vegetable gardens through the enactment of the Maine Vegetable Garden Protection Act by prohibiting local governments from banning vegetable gardens on private property. The bill increases opportunities to design edible landscaping on public property, including Capitol Park in Augusta, by encouraging permaculture, community gardens and food forests through public-private partnerships. Additionally, LD 124 provides for the right to food to be a part of the strategy to end hunger in Maine by 2030, which is based upon bipartisan legislation then-Rep. Hickman passed in 2019.
“All individuals have a natural, inherent and unalienable right to food,” said Sen. Hickman. “This transformative legislation applies our constitutional right to food throughout Maine statute, providing policymakers at every level of government with options to ensure that all people have access to the food of their choosing. I will continue to champion policies that expand this access, as Maine strives to fulfill its promise of eliminating hunger by 2030.”
Food sovereignty means the right of the people to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods and the right of the people to define their own food and agriculture systems. LD 124 defines food sovereignty and food sovereignty principles in Maine statute for the first time since the Maine Food Sovereignty Act became law in 2017. The first food sovereign farmers’ market in the nation has already opened in Stockholm, Maine, and demonstrates food sovereignty in action as Maine continues to lead in this arena. Furthermore, this law requires the Maine Farms for the Future Program review panel, to the extent practicable, to give priority consideration to applicants who have a history of generational poverty or land dispossession in the United States or to applicants who are veterans.
LD 124 allows the Bureau of Parks and Lands to lease land and parcels of land in parks and historic sites, non-reserved public land and public reserved land for purposes of cultivating edible crops, hay or pasturage for livestock. It also allows the bureau to give priority consideration in establishing those leases to individuals with a history of generational poverty or land dispossession, or to veterans.
As non-emergency legislation, LD 124 took effect on September 24, 90 days after the First Special Session of the 132nd Legislature adjourned. It received unanimous, bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate.
Sen. Hickman is an organic farmer from Winthrop who co-authored Maine’s first-in-the-nation right to food constitutional amendment. He spoke about the creation and passage of that amendment in his keynote address at this spring’s Northeast Farm to Institution Summit in Portland. He co-chairs the Maine Agriculture, Food System and Forest Products Infrastructure Investment Advisory Board.
Sen. Hickman represents Maine Senate District 14, which includes Chelsea, Farmingdale, Gardiner, Hallowell, Manchester, Monmouth, Pittston, Randolph, Readfield, Wayne, West Gardiner and Winthrop.
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