Ending Hunger in Maine by 2030

By Jim Hanna

Maine people are resilient, as we have to be, facing harsh and changeable conditions on land and sea. There was a time when we, collectively, addressed far more of our local food needs than we do today. The modern food system provides much for us, bringing fresh and packaged foods great distances, distributed through supermarkets, before they arrive on our tables. Still, people struggle to feed their families for reasons common 400 years ago, 200 years ago, and today. Bad luck, poor health, unexpected expenses, and a tough winter are among the obstacles of getting enough good food to thrive and be healthy.

Food gathers us. We organize around sources of food, seeking simple ways to nourish ourselves. Maine curates its brand identity as "the way life should be," a phrase grounded in a back-to-nature movement articulated in Scott and Helen Nearings' book Living the Good Life. But before the Europeans' arrival, the people indigenous to this land also spoke of their "good life." Each Wabanaki tribe had a word or phrase that expressed the collective wellness of a thriving community. Always at the center was food.

When Wabanaki people met French explorers in 1604, they helped those early settlers to survive the winter at St. Croix. The Wabanaki greeted them with an ethic of sharing and gratitude for what the land and sea provided. The new immigrants, instead of learning the natural cycles of this new place, began to compete with the people living here and impose their priorities and values. Eventually, they displaced them from their homes, interrupted their relationships to the earth, and disrupted their self-sufficiency. An ideology of superiority remains the foundation of inequality and maintains food insecurity today.

What should be obvious but needs to be repeated is that food insecurity results from inadequate income for a family to meet its food needs. Additionally, we have become disconnected from our food, no longer relying on our immediate environment to cultivate, forage, hunt, or fish for the main sources of our diet. We have forgotten how to appreciate our food. We don't know where it comes from. We don't know how to make it delicious and nourishing. We ignore the marginalizing effect when families do not have enough good food or the knowledge to prepare it.

The honest stories told about who is poor and why reveal the causes and provide a framework for solutions. We must review historical moments when our communities made choices that privileged those already empowered to be more powerful, while stripping others of basic necessities. Economic and racial justice are inseparable. Any plan to end hunger must reference intentional policy choices in our past that resulted in disparate outcomes for targeted groups. The resulting economic inequality impacts not just people of color but is the foundation supporting the poverty that afflicts everyone who can't put nourishing food on their table. This poverty is a cost to and a burden on us all.

Over 30 years ago, a serious discussion began that if we are to solve the problem of hunger, we need to measure our progress toward that end. In the mid-1990s, the U.S. government adopted the term "food insecurity" to assess and explain poverty-related food deprivation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines food security as "access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life." Each year, through the Census Bureau, the USDA conducts a survey to assess the extent to which U.S. households struggle to get adequate food.

In September 2019, the USDA released its 24th annual report on Household Food Security in the United States. An estimated 11.1 percent of American households were food insecure; that is, they lacked enough food for all household members. Maine had an overall food insecurity prevalence of 13.6 percent, and more concerning is the approximately 33,500 Maine households (5.9%) experiencing very low food security (VLFS), significantly above the national average on both counts. In this survey, only Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma have a higher prevalence of VLFS than Maine.

Does this mean our food system is broken? My bias is that the place our food system needs most healing is where it prevents people from accessing healthy food. Beginning with access, our food system must be woven back together and made whole. One answer lies in our local food resources. Local food supports nutritious diets, stimulates regional economies, sustains healthy environments, and creates strong social connections. This means that increasing local production, processing, and access can alleviate hunger through a variety of strategies while building a resilient and equitable food system. Local food is an important tool to build food-secure communities. Knowing the farmer who grows your food is one of the most meaningful things you can do to strengthen your community.

Maine has a unique and historic opportunity to rally together and address the complex social problems of hunger and food insecurity. On May 21, 2019, Governor Janet Mills signed LD 1159: Resolve to End Hunger in Maine by 2030. No other state has made a similar commitment, and this bill underscores our "Dirigo" motto and spirit: Maine leads. With support from the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, an advisory team presented its initial report to the legislature on March 3, 2020, outlining the comprehensive strategy required to build food and economic security with Maine families.

In keeping with the spirit of a cookbook, I have included A Menu To End Hunger. Together. Together we can develop solutions that will make food and economic insecurity a thing of the past.

A MENU TO END HUNGER

ACT

  • Buy local: Knowing your farmer strengthens our food system

  • Love your food and your neighbor: Preparing healthful food nourishes you, your family, and community and prevents food waste

ADVOCATE

  • Tell your story: Sharing our struggles is courageous, inspires empathy, and reveals our collective failure to ensure everyone can achieve their potential

  • Know who is hungry and why: Reclaim your humanity from complicity in a system that makes people poor

GIVE

  • Money: Support efforts to address the root causes of hunger and poverty

  • Time: Join with others who are building food security because none of us can solve hunger alone

Jim Hanna is the executive director of the Cumberland County Food Security Council and has been a Community Supported Agriculture member of Willow Pond Farm in Sabattus since 1991. He has worked intentionally to strengthen Maine's food system for almost 30 years. His children and grandchildren are blessed to be growing in Maine.