Farm Free Or Die! Maine Towns Rebel Against Food Rules
New Englanders have never been shy about revolting against what they see as unfair food regulations. Remember that whole Boston Tea Party thing?
So perhaps it's not so surprising that in Maine, towns have been staging another revolution: They've declared independence from state and federal regulations on locally produced foods.
In May, the tiny Isle of Haut became the 10th town in the state to pass what's known as a food sovereignty ordinance. Essentially, these resolutions claim that small local food producers don't have to abide by state or federal licensing and inspection regulations if they are selling directly to consumers.
The idea is to spare farmers from burdensome regulations that are "squeezing the smallest of the small," says Bob St. Peter of the advocacy group Food For Maine's Future.
St. Peter helped draft one of the first local food sovereignty resolutions, passed in Blue Hill, Maine, back in 2011. That declaration of independence, he tells The Salt, was inspired in part by bureaucratic bumbling over chickens.
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