good news from maine

[mitchmaine]

Last week, sedgwick maine passed an ordinance at their town meeting, protecting their right to produce, process, sell, purchase and consume local foods, promoting self- reliance, and protecting family farm and local food tradition.
More area towns are scheduled to vote on the same ordinance backed up by proposals before the maine state house later on this year.
All backed up by the authority of the fundamental rights as citizens of a self governing state, the declaration of independence which declares that governments are instituted to secure peoples rights and derives its power by consent of the governed. Article 1 of the maine constitution declaring all power is inherent in the people, all free governments are founded in the authority and instituted for their benefit and they, the people, can alter, reform or change law when their safety and happiness require it. Title 30-a of the maine revised statutes granting municipalities all powers necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the residents of maine towns. And title 7 of the same statutes stating it is the policy of the state to encourage food self-sufficiency for the state.
This isn’t any kind of a revolution, but a declaration of rights we are guaranteed as citizens of a self governing country, bound with the responsibility of protecting the rights and freedoms of its citizens.
Included in the ordinance is language exempting producers of local food from license and inspection providing the transaction is between producer and patron and food is sold for home consumption.
The purpose of the bill is to provide citizens with unimpeded access to local food, to enhance the local economy by promoting local agriculture, protecting access to local farm markets, supporting local economic viability, preserving community social events, and to preserve local knowledge and traditional ways.
That’s it in a nutshell, paraphrased of course. We’ll see how it plays out, but I think it’s time has come. You can’t blame the usda or the large food producer/processor/packager shippers. Their job is to try and feed three hundred million people and that job can’t be done without something falling through the cracks. The problem is asking small farmers to play on the same field. Can’t be done.

[Jim Garvin]

Is there any way you can post the exact wording of those warrant articles?

[mitchmaine]

Jim, having trouble moving this document around. Four pages. Still trying.
However, I did get a chance to meet our new commissioner of agr. At the governors tree tapping day. Nice man and a farmer. Not enthusiastic about the results of the town meeting votes. He said if they sent people over to speak from the state, that the vote would have been worse. Guess he didn’t know that the vote was unanimous. Anyway, he was sympathetic and made a few good points.
One, was that some of the people he has to talk with on most hot button issues are from out of state and debate any farm issue. And move on to another state to do the same about another issue. Most are not farmers but people who need public attention.and that makes the job difficult.
And also that the state in his words was bending backwards for the small farmer, and if perceived too lenient by the feds, usda can pull the states right to inspect and they will come in and do it. Doesn’t sound like personal freedoms to me, but puts a lid on states rights. In guess the civil war did that all on its own. Anyway, there are still bills in the house addressing the same issues and my guess is that the voters in town meetings down east aren’t going away. Attorneys general office is talking with those towns about legality concerns. That’s the news from mooslookmaguntic.

[Jim Garvin]

Thanks for the info, Mitch. Please keep us up-to-date as things progress over there. It’s a very interesting, and worthwhile, campaign and it’ll likely have a ripple effect as time goes on.

My mother’s side of the family were all farmers from the Oakland/Smithfield area, so the small farmer’s plight in Maine strikes a familar cord to me. Keep up the good work!!

[Mark Cowdrey]

Here’s a post from another list:

Maine Town Declares Food Sovereignty, Nullifies Unconstitutional
Laws
< http://maine.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2011/03/maine-town-declares-food-sovereignty-nullifies-unconstitutional-laws/>

http://maine.tenthamendmentcenter.com/

The Maine town of Sedgwick took an interesting step that brings a new
dynamic to the movement to maintain sovereignty: Town-level
nullification. Last Friday, the town passed a proposed ordinance that
would empower the local level to grow and sell food amongst themselves
without interference from unconstitutional State or Federal regulations.
Beyond that, the passed ordinance would make it unlawful for agents of
either the State or Federal government to execute laws that interfere
with the ordinance.

Under the new ordinance, producers and processors are protected from
licensure or inspection in sales that are sold for home consumption
between them and a patron, at farmer’s market, or at a roadside stand.
The ordinance specifically notes the right of the people to food
freedom, as well as citing the U.S. Declaration of Independence and
Maine Constitution in defending the rights of the people.

Local farmer and member of the National Family Farm Coalition Bob St.
Peter noted “Rural working people have always had to do a little of this
and a little of that to make ends meet. But up until the last couple
generations, we didn’t need a special license or new facility each time
we wanted to sell something to our neighbors. Small farmers and
producers have been getting squeezed out in the name of food safety, yet
it’s the industrial food that is causing food borne illness, not us.”

Also, ordinances similar to this one will be going before a vote in
three other Maine towns: Penobscott, Brooksville, and Blue Hill.

The text of the “Local Food And Community Self-Governance Ordinance of
2011?, which was passed unanimously, can be found here
<http://savingseeds.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/localfoodlocalrules-ordinance-template.pdf>.

The Food Sovereignty movement has been growing, as it gained a boost
with the U.S. Senate bill S. 510: “The Food Safety Modernization Act.”
Georgia, Montana, North Carolina, Utah, and Wyoming have introduced
legislation that, if passed, would nullify Federal laws that
unconstitutionally affect food that does not cross state lines. Maine
Representative Walter Kumiega (D-Deer Isle) has also taken the lead in
the Legislature for food freedom with L.D. 263, which would exempt
people from licensing requirements when engaging in sales that are
local, such as at farmer’s markets.

[goodcompanion]

Very, very, interesting news.

I wonder what the reaction from the state ag department and the USDA will be? Ignore it? Or make an example of it and try to nip the movement in the bud? Are Sedgwick residents ready to go to the barricades on this one?

[mitchmaine]

erik,
it’s four towns in a block downeast on the coast in hancock county. sedgewick voted unanimously, brooksville didn’t get it into the town report in time, but blue hill and penobscot may actually vote today.
i don’t represent them in anyway except i talk with paul birdsall frequently about the matter and the townspeople are pretty serious about what they are trying to say. time will tell how it plays out. as i said before, the ag commissioner here in maine seems sympathetic to the natives but he’s caught right in the middle and will probably have to go with the power folk.

[LongViewFarm]

I’m curious as to how this has played out further this summer.
I teach environmental science to high school students. Local food security is something we cover in class, and this would make a great contemporary case study. Any news in the last six months?

[Author]

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