Proposed bill could advance food sovereignty movement in Maine

A northern Maine senator has thrown support to the food sovereignty movement, sponsoring a bill to legitimize the authority of towns and communities to enact ordinances regulating local food and water distribution free from state regulatory control.

In sponsoring LD 725, An Act to recognize local control regarding food and water systems, Sen. Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, said this week he is not an expert on local food production but decided to introduce the bill in the face of the state’s growing food sovereignty movement.

Advocates of food sovereignty want local food producers to be exempt from state licensing and inspections governing the selling of food as long as the transactions are between the producers and the customers for home consumption or when the food is sold and consumed at community events such as church suppers.

“I was on the {Legislature’s} Agriculture Committee in 2013 and 2014 and heard a lot of people saying they supported the right to buy food food face to face without the state stepping to regulate things,” Jackson said. “I felt this was important to small producers.”

Read more: http://bangordailynews.com/2017/03/03/homestead/proposed-bill-could-advance-food-sovereignty-movement-in-maine/