This bill makes the following changes regarding food and food sovereignty.
1. It requires the Commissioner of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry to protect and respect, by not interfering with, the right to food as declared in the Constitution of Maine, Article I, Section 25.
2. It allows edible landscaping throughout Capitol Park and allows the use of money from public and private sources to establish edible landscaping in the park.
3. It amends the Maine Food Sovereignty Act to: A. Provide or amend definitions of "consumer"; "direct producer-to-consumer transaction"; "food or food products"; "food producer"; and "traditional foodways"; B. Require the State, instead of the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, to support policies that encourage food self-sufficiency for its citizens and to further encourage self-reliance, personal responsibility and rural economic development and protect and respect, by not interfering with, the right to food; C. Establish food sovereignty principles; D. Prohibit the State from enforcing any law or rule, taking an enforcement action or interfering in any way with the activities authorized by a local food ordinance, except those State laws or rules that involve the State's meat and poultry products inspection, registration and licensing program; E. Apply the provisions of the Maine Food Sovereignty Act to all local food ordinances, including those in place before the Act was enacted; and F. Specify that the Maine Food Sovereignty Act does not require the use of specific language or definitions in municipal food ordinances.
4. It establishes the Maine Vegetable Garden Protection Act to allow a person to cultivate vegetable gardens on the person's own property or on the private property of another with the permission of the owner of that property anywhere in the State and prohibits interference by the State or a political subdivision of the State with the vegetable
42 garden. A municipality, county, village or plantation may adopt ordinances to regulate
43 matters related to the cultivation of vegetable gardens, including ordinances governing
44 height, setback, water use, fertilizer use or the control of invasive or unlawful species, as
45 long as the ordinance does not have the effect of prohibiting the cultivation of vegetable
46 gardens.
5. It allows the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Bureau of Parks and Lands and the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to lease unneeded land and parcels of land in parks and historic sites, nonreserved public land and public reserved land for a period not exceeding 5 years for purposes of cultivating edible crops, hay or pasturage for horses or dairy animals, and instructs those agencies to give preference to certain individuals in establishing those leases.
6. It authorizes municipalities to develop and implement a program to establish edible landscaping, food forests and community gardens in public spaces, including municipally owned properties, rights-of-way, school grounds, parks and parking lots.
7. It provides, for purposes of the marine resources and inland fisheries and wildlife statutes, a definition of the verb "to harvest."
8. It allows, as part of the curriculum for elementary and secondary schools, the inclusion of Maine food economics, which provides instruction in basic nutrition, food preparation and meal management; on-site learning opportunities, such as school gardens and agricultural fairs; and consumer economics and resource management related to food production and consumption. The Department of Education is required to use existing resources and seek all available funds from the Federal Government, nonprofit foundations or other appropriate public or private sources to fund the costs of developing the Maine food economics curriculum and implementing the curriculum in the State's public schools.

Statutes affected:
Bill Text LD 1823, SP 739: 3.902, 7.2, 7.282, 7.283, 7.284, 7.318, 12.1814, 12.10109