RIGHT TO FOOD FOR MAINE

Ballot Question #3:

Advocating for a constitutional amendment in the State of Maine to include an unalienable right to food.

We, the people of Maine, face a critical choice and historic moment this November 2nd at the ballot box.  Ballot Question #3 will present us with the opportunity to amend our constitution to declare that we have a natural, inherent and unalienable right to food. As citizens of the state of Maine, we will decide if we want to enshrine in our Constitution the right to grow and access the nourishing food of our choosing with dignity and self-determination.

Ballot Question #3 will ask voters to decide whether to add the following language to Section 25 of the State’s Declaration of Rights: 

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 right for me, vote yes on question three.”

Interested in joining the Right to Food for Maine campaign? Click the blue feedback button on the bottom left.

Key Facts about the Right to Food for Maine:

  • 73 percent of the Maine House and 70 percent of the Maine Senate voted to bring the Right to Food question to the ballot box this November.
  • Private property rights, including seed patents, are protected.
  • The right to food will not limit or constrain other rights.
  • Department oversight of food processing and commerce is protected.
  • The right to food does not mean society must provide food for certain groups of people.

Why is the Right to Food for Maine needed?

  • Maine’s food systems are vulnerable to weaknesses in the national economy and infrastructure.                               
  • Empty shelves at grocery stores are amplifying the need for food self-sufficiency.
  • Food imported from out of state now makes up about 90% of what we eat.    
  • Storms, flooding, and disease can result in breaks along the food supply chain to Maine.                                                       
  • With responses to the Covid19 virus causing disruption to transportation and mobility, the need for more of our food to come from our own yards and fields is apparent.                                                      
  • It is essential that we increase local food production in order to ensure resilience of our communities.  
  • Enumerating right to grow and raise food in Maine’s Declaration of Rights ensures people continue to have the ability to grow and raise their own food and protect against government overreach. 
  • Maine people can increase resilience to external shocks in systems beyond our control by growing and producing much more of our own food. 
  • By securing the right to grow and raise food in our Constitution, it will be protected in the most fundamental form of law. 

Interested in joining the Right to Food for Maine campaign?

Click the blue feedback button on the bottom left.