Maine Food Sovereignty Law

      Posted On: October 23, 2017

An Act to Recognize Local Control Regarding Food Systems, LD724, takes effect on November 1, 2017. LD725 applies in declared food sovereign towns, so most markets are unaffected by the law. If your town is not a food sovereign town, this law will not apply. Furthermore, since it exclusively applies to food produced and sold within food sovereign towns, it won’t apply to most farmers’ market vendors, who generally travel to reach their markets. 

October 2017 Update:

The new food sovereignty law is set to take effect November 1st. The Legislature needs to amend the law or the USDA will no longer allow the state to operate its own meat processing inspection program.  (The state has to certify that the facilities it inspects meet federal safety guidelines, and the new law, as written, means the state can no longer do that.) Closing the state-licensed facilities would be a disaster for farmers at any time of year, but particularly hard in the fall. The Maine Farm Bureau has issued a legislative alert – read it here: Legislative Update re Food Sovereignty Law.

Food Sovereignty