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Abstract

On November 2, 2021, Maine voters overwhelmingly supported a statewide referendum approving an amendment to enshrine the right to food in Maine’s constitution. This vote was preceded by a decade of food sovereignty advocacy in Maine. This advocacy was led by small farmers and homesteaders and supported by people looking to opt out of the industrial food system, which is dominated by a few corporate monopolies and promotes charity-based solutions to hunger. This vote was a resounding proclamation by the people of Maine in support of the right to food, 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’s efforts are connected to a wider national and international community of smallholder farmers—or peasants—and people living and working in rural areas, food system workers, and people experiencing hunger and food insecurity. Although Maine is the first U.S. state to enshrine the right to food in its constitution, international human rights law firmly recognizes a right to adequate food. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights upholds “the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing, and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.” The right is further enumerated in international law through additional conventions and standards and is continuously being interpreted and analyzed by United Nations expert bodies. Moreover, the ground-breaking adoption of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, after seventeen years of global mobilization and negotiations by peasant movements, led to the international recognition of their rights. These include the rights to food sovereignty and individual and collective access to natural resources, including land, water, and seeds. This Article examines Maine’s constitutional amendment on the right to food by looking at its food sovereignty origins and by relying on international human rights law. This analysis reflects on how Maine’s right to food could serve as an antidote for the privatization of water and natural resources and pave the road for people to regain access to land and water, reclaim native seeds, restore biodiversity, and promote sustainability and autonomy in a localized food system. Drawing on their involvement in a growing right to food movement in the United States that is made up of small farmers, legislators, advocates, academics, and people with lived experiences of hunger, the authors also reflect on opportunities to translate Maine’s experience to other states with ongoing legislative and organizing efforts focused on the human right to food.

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