Vermont Coalition for Food Sovereignty (link not available)
Quietly slipping under the radar last week the Town of Barre was the second municipality in the state to pass a measure supporting food sovereignty. The first was Barre City on March 4, 2011. In both towns food sovereignty was expressed as the “right to save seed, grow, process, consume and exchange food and farm products.” Barre City voters were asked if they “Resolved to declare sovereignty over [these rights].” They said yes by a vote of 686 yes to 220 no. Barre Town’s numbers on May 10 were strikingly similar (673 yes- 200 no) when passing the Vermont Resolution for Food Sovereignty, a document written by members of the Vermont Coalition for Food Sovereignty in December of 2010.
The Resolution passed by Barre Town asserts that the People have the right and responsibility, individually and through their elected officials, to resist any and all infringements on the rights to save seed, grow, process, consume and exchange food and farm products within the State of Vermont. The statement is intended to catalyze and inspire a conversation among all of the people in Vermont about food freedom and security in a time of global unrest and to stand as a template and measure by which all food and agricultural policy in the State of Vermont should be held against.
The Vermont Coalition for Food Sovereignty is a grassroots coalition of individuals from highly divergent political, religious and socio-economic backgrounds.They are an entirely self-funded and self-motivated activist group dedicated to protecting the basic human right to save seed, grow, process, consume and exchange food and farm products within the state of Vermont. VCFS is committed to addressing and resisting infringements on these rights in a positive, productive way, actively engaging in finding responsible solutions which increase opportunity and freedom for Vermont’s food producers and consumers while solidifying Vermont’s reputation as a vanguard in the local, healthy food movement.
