The Right to Food Grows Stronger Legislative Roots in Maine

By Photini Kamvisseli Suarez, Legal Fellow, National Right to Food CoP

“I live in a rural community…I believe locally produced food is national security. I believe that access to wholesome food is a right for every citizen. When one in four children among us goes to bed hungry every night we can do better, we must do better. We cannot allow a single one of us to go hungry for a single day…let us stop importing more food per capita than any other state…”

-Senator Craig Hickman

In 2024, Maine State Senator Craig Hickman brought forth An Act to Protect the Right to Food, setting forth additional provisions building upon the original right to food amendment. The Act clarifies certain essential definitions in statute, including the principles of food sovereignty, traditional foodways, food producer, food products, and direct producer-to-consumer transaction, strengthening the Maine Food Sovereignty Act. 

The Act further highlights the principle of autonomy by specifically discussing personal responsibility and self-reliance in the context of the right to food. The Act also amends the law governing edible landscaping in Capitol Park in Maine and encourages municipalities to develop edible landscaping in parks as well. The Act further emphasizes the importance of prioritizing rural economic development, and provides that strategies aimed at ending hunger in Maine by 2030 must include the protection of the right to food. 

Senator Craig Hickman discussing the right to food at the Maine Legislature hearing on March 11, 2025.

In a recent hearing on the Act which took place on March 11, 2025, Senator Hickman explained the need for this Act, and mentioned that the clarifying definitions included in the Act came in response to a question posed by a member of the National Right to Food Community of Practice regarding the definition of food sovereignty. 

“The right to food is a fundamental liberty right and a fundamental human right…everybody who wants to live needs to eat and every one of us deserves access to safe, healthy, affordable food…This legislation… realizes that there is more that we could do as lawmakers on behalf of the people that we represent to protect and advance this right in Maine’s statutory landscape.”

-Senator Craig Hickman

Members of the National Right to Food Community of Practice also attended and spoke virtually at the hearing, displaying the solidarity and strength that the Community of Practice brings to local advocacy and legislative efforts, one of the benefits of forming this community and maintaining an awareness of the advocacy work we are each putting forth in our respective states and communities. Joshua Lohnes, Professor of Geography at West Virginia University and a member of the Coordination Team of the National Right to Food Community of Practice, testified at the hearing. This was a unique experience for the Maine Legislature, who commented that they rarely hear from individuals outside of the state at Committee Hearings for new legislation in Maine.

“Since Mainers voted to pass your constitutional amendment for the right to food in 2021, a national movement has taken root as dozens of states, counties, and cities across the country organize to replicate the work of codifying this most fundamental human right into law.”

-Joshua Lohnes

On March 21, 2025, the Act was carried over to the next session of the 132nd Legislature. This means that the Maine Legislature has not made a final decision on the Act and will continue to hold in consideration the Act and all related information provided to them in the next session. 

To read the Act, click here. 

To follow the progress of the Act, click here. 

To listen to the full hearing on the Act, click here.