Moving Towards a Right to Food in Michigan
- Aug 6
- 4 min read
August 6, 2026
By Josh Caplan, Summer Intern with the National Right to Food Community of Practice
On July 1, 2026, the Michigan House of Representatives unanimously adopted HR0340, declaring that July 1st would now be recognized as “Food Day” in the state of Michigan. The resolution honors the state’s food producers and food assistance organizations while raising awareness of food insecurity and encouraging Michiganders to support local agriculture and food access programs.
Food Day sets a foundation for something bigger though: a right to food in Michigan. Sponsor Rep. Emily Dievendorf was clear in her framing on the house floor:
“This resolution is about affirming a simple truth: every person deserves access to adequate, safe, nutritious, and culturally meaningful food… food is a fundamental human right.”
The story of Food Day and right to food in Michigan is one of hard work and coalition building, with more still to be done. Ypsilanti-based nonprofit Growing Hope has been a part of it every step of the way.
Growing Hope: Tending the Soil of Right to Food
Growing Hope has spent two decades working in the local Washtenaw county food system in southeast Michigan. They run the Ypsilanti Farmers Market, teach people to cook their own food, operate an incubator kitchen for food entrepreneurs, and provide a free farm cart for neighbors in need. The organization is rooted in food sovereignty and believes that communities should have a say over their own food system, from seed to plate.
Policy advocacy has always been a part of this mix, but Food Day is Growing Hope’s step into statewide legislative territory.
Julius Buzzard, executive director of Growing Hope, traces his own entry to right to food to when he began engaging with the National Right to Food Community of Practice in 2021. Through the Community of Practice, he learned about global food sovereignty movements and that the United States has not ratified the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, which includes a right to food. At the 2025 Power of Procurement gathering, Buzzard heard from the Homeless Workers’ Movement in Brazil, a place where the right to food is written into the constitution. Seeing this success story, along with wins closer to home in Maine, made him realize what was possible in Michigan.
Bridging Grassroots Conversations and the Capitol
Agriculture is a substantial, diverse part of Michigan's economy, and as federal food assistance faced cuts in 2025, right to food conversations started occurring among grassroots and community-based organizations. Buzzard began showing up wherever he could, building a statewide coalition that now includes Michigan State University's Regional Food Systems Program and Extension, farmers, tribal nations, and organizers in Northern Michigan, Flint, and Grand Rapids.
Developing and managing a complex coalition is key but challenging. The hardest ground to cover has been rural, politically conservative, food-producing communities. Buzzard’s approach there is more posture than persuasion. He suggests showing up with humility, knowing your own blind spots, and authentically listening.
He also became a familiar face at the state capitol in Lansing, building relationships with state lawmakers where he connected with Rep. Dievendorf. “We gelled,” as he put it; the fit was immediate. Buzzard already had a draft resolution ready, so he sent it to Rep. Dievendorf, and from there the process was easy.
“It happened so organically, it felt ahead of schedule,” Buzzard said. “We were really working at the city and county levels, building grassroots energy” and it paid off. The frame of Food Day got the resolution to the floor, where Rep. Dievendorf could make explicitly right to food remarks, starting an essential conversation in the legislature.
Next Steps
Food Day isn’t the finish line, but it lays the groundwork for deeper action. What’s next?
Long-term, the goal is to establish a statewide constitutional amendment declaring the right to food in Michigan. Buzzard would also like to see an administrative and durable state office, isolated from the four year electoral churn, housed under the Department of Civil Rights and dedicated to enforcing the right to food through policy. The meetings with legislators will continue, and now Growing Hope has a helpful Food Day to build their advocacy pushes around.
The near term work is less flashy but necessary. Growing Hope is continuing to expand their coalition and wants to start stacking local ordinances. City and county resolutions that echo the state resolution’s language, declare a right to food, or signal support for a statewide amendment would create a floor of symbolic commitments under the eventual push for something binding. Michigan doesn’t have many of these local ordinances yet, and Buzzard sees that as some of Growing Hope’s most important work, starting at home with a resolution in Washtenaw County.
Buzzard’s advice to advocates for the right to food in other states is refreshingly pragmatic:
It’s important to have policymakers as allies, so build relationships with elected officials and their staff.
Have honest conversations; know what you actually want, but also know what’s realistic in the room you’re in.
Don’t dismiss the symbolic wins, a resolution can be the foundation for tangible improvements.
More Information
Michiganders who want to get involved can go to growinghope.net/righttofood to sign their name in support of the Washtenaw County right to food declaration, or reach Buzzard directly at julius@growinghope.net.
