Maine farmers seek to protect locally grown foods

Small, local farm operations in recent years have faced increasingly stringent state regulations that, farmers say, threaten their farms and the rights of local residents to buy local food. Now, they are pushing back. A group of Hancock County farmers has proposed an ordinance in four towns that would exempt small farms from new state licensing and inspection requirements as long as the farm products are sold directly to a customer for home consumption. The ordinance is mirrored in two bills introduced this session by state Rep. Walter Kumiega, D-Deer Isle. The proposed ordinance is backed by the local Halcyon...