•  
  •  
 

Abstract

Maine’s constitutional right to food is the first state constitutional right to food and the extent of the rights created by the amendment is largely unknown. The right to food, as enacted in Article I, Section 25 of the Maine Constitution, provides: Section 25. Right to food. 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, as long as an individual does not commit trespassing, theft, poaching or other abuses of private property rights, public lands or natural resources in the harvesting, production or acquisition of food. The right to food is new to the Maine Constitution; however, it is the culmination of over a decade of advocacy for food self-sufficiency. Maine is home to predominately small farms and many of its farmers market their goods directly to consumers and have sought to exempt themselves from complex state and federal food production laws. Supporters of Maine’s right to food hold the view that local governments, rather than state or federal actors, are the appropriate sovereigns to establish and enforce standards for local food. Those opposed to the right to food amendment fear that this broadly phrased constitutional right is vague and has the potential, by reducing governmental oversight of food production, to do more harm than good. To decide what the right to food will mean and how it will impact the citizens of Maine, the table has been set for the Maine courts. The right to food is already being invoked in legal challenges and more litigation is sure to follow, challenging a diverse array of governmental functions that could conflict with the right to food. To determine the meaning of the right to food, Maine courts will first construe the plain language of the amendment and if the language is ambiguous, the courts will also consider the purpose and history of the amendment. Given the unique nature of the right, it is possible this analysis will leave the courts without sufficient guidance. This Article suggests it could also be useful for the Maine judiciary to consider the interpretation of state amendments guaranteeing the right to a clean environment, known as green amendments. Although Maine’s right to food amendment and green amendments differ in scope as explained more fully herein, they are both fundamental state constitutional rights that protect basic human needs and minimally prevent government action that infringes upon the protected rights. How courts have interpreted green amendments and struck a balance between development and the right to a clean environment is translatable to the balance that the Maine judiciary will need to strike between government oversight of food production and the right to food.

First Page

203

Download

Share

COinS