Small farmers, raw milk fans, back-to-the-land supporters, and others who want local control of food systems are watching Maine. Voters there in November passed the nation’s first “right-to-food” constitutional amendment. Some believe the legislation will simply put people in charge of what they eat. Others say it could endanger food supplies and bring cattle pens to cities.
On the ballot, Maine asked voters whether they favored a full-on food sovereignty, or right-to-food, amendment to the state constitution. The measure passed. It declares that individuals have a “right to grow, raise, harvest, produce, and consume the food of their own choosing.”
For supporters, the language ensures the option to grow vegetables and raise livestock in an era when big business threatens local food supply ownership.
God made human bodies to run on food. Christians can trust that their heavenly Father knows their needs. This frees them to concern themselves primarily with God’s kingdom and eternal matters. (Matthew 6:31-33) But still, they must eat.
“Food is life,” says State Senator Craig Hickman, an amendment supporter. “I don’t understand why anyone would be afraid of saying so out loud in the constitution.”
Opponents of the amendment say the wording represents a threat to food safety and animal welfare. They say it could embolden residents to raise cows in city backyards or fish commercially without a license.
Maine Representative Billy Bob Faulkingham proposed the change. He calls the measure “the Second Amendment of food”—comparing it to the U.S. constitutional amendment that assures the right to bear arms.
Faulkingham says the amendment guarantees people can do things like save and exchange seeds if they don’t violate public or property rights.
But Julie Ann Smith of the Maine Farm Bureau believes the amendment could compromise the food supply. “We think it’s very dangerous to have the words ‘to consume the food of your own choosing,’” she says. Smith fears residents could choose to consume uninspected, unsafe food.
Political scientist Mark Brewer agrees that the amendment’s language is vague. “If you want to raise cattle within the city limits when city laws say you can’t, but the constitution says you can—then what happens?”
Heather Retberg runs a farm in the small town of Penobscot, Maine. She says the amendment allows self-sufficiency in rural communities. She thinks the amendment could help address the problem of “food deserts,” where residents don’t have enough access to healthy food.
“This shifts the power to the individuals,” Retberg says. “It gives us more voice in how we want our food systems to be.”
Why? While God knows and supplies human needs, He also allows people freedom to work and provide for themselves and others. Evaluating the pros and cons of food sovereignty figures into acting on God’s stewardship mandate to humanity.
