Benton County (USA) Ordinance: local food systems bill of rights

Summary

In 2015, members of the civil action group the Benton Food Freedom campaign were able to get a local food system ordinance on ballot; however, it did not achieve the necessary vote. The Ordinance would have recognized the rights of natural communities and ecosystems “such as soils and other terrestrial systems, and aquatic systems such as aquifers, streams, rivers, and wetlands” to “possess the right to exist, persist, maintain themselves and regenerate their own vital cycles, structures, functions and evolutionary processes” (section 2) to the extent necessary to “promote biodiversity, living soils, resilience, and nutrient density while providing for the social, equitable, economic, nutritional and cultural enhancements of the quality of life in Benton County” (section 8). These rights also “include the right to be free from genetically engineered organisms and the right to be free from the patenting, licensing, or ownership of their genes within Benton County” (section 2).

Other rights included in the Food Bill of Rights are the right of residents of Benton County to a local food system, seed heritage, and self-government.