Maine's new "right to food" could sprout legal challenges
Like every farmer Courtney Hammond, who grows blueberries and cranberries in Washington County, Maine, has a lot of worries.
像每个在缅因州华盛顿县种植蓝莓和蔓越莓的农民一样，考特尼·哈蒙德也有很多担忧。
He frets about weather, invasive species, failed crops and global prices.
他担心气候不好、物种入侵、收成不好和全球价格等问题。
To abide by federal food-safety laws, he has had to do training, maintain meticulous records, have insect- and rodent-control plans and document daily the sanitation of his processing equipment.
为了遵守联邦食品安全法，他必须接受培训，保持详细的记录，制定昆虫和啮齿动物控制计划，每天记录加工设备的卫生情况。
It is a tremendous amount of work but it means, he says, "I don't have to worry about anybody getting sick from eating anything that leaves my farm."
这是一项庞大的工作，他说，“但这意味着，我不必担心任何人因为吃了从我农场生产的任何食品而生病。”
Now he is worried that a new law may put his hard work in jeopardy.
Earlier this month 61% of voters opted to change the state constitution to ensure that all Mainers had a "right to food", the first law of its kind in America.
本月早些时候，61%的选民选择修改州宪法，以确保所有缅因州人都有“食物权”，这是美国第一部此类法律。
The constitutional amendment’s main proponents included a conservative lobsterman, a liberal raw-milk organic farmer, the Sportsman Alliance (a hunting group) and Cumberland County Food Security Council.
宪法修正案的主要支持者包括一位保守的龙虾养殖者、一位自由的生奶有机农场主、运动员联盟（一个狩猎团体）和坎伯兰县食品安全委员会。
The pandemic has shone a light on food insecurity in Maine.
Now, Mainers have the "unalienable right to food…to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the food of their own choosing".
现在，缅因人拥有“不可剥夺的食物权……种植、饲养、收获、生产和消费他们自己选择的食物”。
The amendment sounded innocuous, but sceptics are wary of its impact.
这项修正案听起来无伤大雅，但怀疑者对其影响持谨慎态度。
Marge Kilkelly, a former state lawmaker who raises turkeys as well as pigs and goats, points out that most people don’t know much about farming:
饲养火鸡、猪和山羊的前州议员玛吉·基尔凯利指出，大多数人对农业不太了解：
"It does not happen in an instant.You don’t just get the turkey seed and put water on it. Poof, there’s a turkey."
“这不是一瞬间发生的。不能拿一颗火鸡种子，浇点水，噗，就有一只火鸡长出来，不是这么简单。”
Opponents of the amendment worry that 【打印本页】【关闭窗口】 |