Like many farmers markets, food producers and consumers gather for four hours on alternating Saturdays in Stockholm, a small community nestled between Caribou and Van Buren in northern Maine.
But unlike the others, the Stockholm Sovereign Market is unregulated. Aroostook County vendors sell baked goods, produce, dog treats, raw milk, maple syrup, eggs and herd shares — all of which is produced at home.
The market is the first of its kind in Maine and was made possible by a 2021 amendment to the 2017 Maine Food Sovereignty Act, a policy that has only been enacted in two states — Maine and Wyoming — codifying a "right to food" for residents.
But it's a movement that's not without critics.
“Maine’s reputation for some of the best food and best restaurants in the nation is just too important to risk on a vague statement of rights that won’t satisfy anyone,” the Maine Farm Bureau said in a statement.
As originally enacted, the law allowed for the direct producer-to-consumer sale of food, as long as the sale was made at the site of production. It also exempted producers from state and federal regulatory standards for commercial food production.
The law was amended to allow sales to take place off-site, in a private space.
Enter the Stockholm Sovereign Market, which opened this spring.
“Because we're in food sovereign Stockholm, we cannot have a public venue, so we have a private venue," says market founder Jerry Ferszt. "Everyone that is here joins a membership for the year, and they get access to our market”.
Along with the $5-per-year membership fee, members also sign a risk waiver that prevents them from suing the market or individual food producers if they get sick.
Ferszt says there have been no reports of members becoming sick from consumption of food bought at the market despite the inherent risks.
And market members — which now number over 200 people — say they have little concern around the safety of consuming unregulated food.
Johnny and Catherine, an older couple that moved to Aroostook County in 2018, sell salads made with produce they grow in their garden at home.
Tobey MacCachran
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Maine Public
"We make the same stuff that we eat, in the same manner. It's no different than coming to my house and sitting at my table. It's just here instead of there," Catherine says. "If I have anything left at the stand, it becomes my lunch."
“It brings our food choices back to the community instead of us having to now travel to Caribou for everything, because you've lost an hour when you go to Caribou,” Johnny says.
Alexandria Lord of Woodland — who sells an assortment of baked goods, including granola bars and blueberry sweets — is an educator in Aroostook County and sources many of her ingredients from the farm in Presque Isle's school district.
Lord says that the market stimulates trust within the local community.
“We thought it was a great idea for our communities to come together and provide good quality food, without chemicals, without dyes, and where they know who's producing their food," she says. "And they get to build relationships with these people, and trust them, because I think that's missing in our food supply today is the trust."
Ferszt agrees, saying the market fosters a higher level of trust than going to the grocery store.
"When you go to the grocery store you have no idea where your milk came from, when it was made, or what condition the animal was in,” he says. “Here you know the farmer, his fields, his cows, and probably his extended family, too.”
Tobey MacCachran
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Maine Public
And Ferszt says the obstacles created by food regulations can actually decrease local food production and consumption in rural areas.
“We don't have a USDA butcher within a few hours of us. But we still want meat to be accessible for people,” he says.
One way the market increases meat accessibility is through herd shares, which Ferszt says is like investing in a stock, except the stock is meat.
“Essentially you can purchase shares in a herd, it could be $25, $50," he says, "and then you can collect returns on whatever you invested in, things like milk, meat or whatever, depending on what the herd produces."
Ferszt says that while the Stockholm Sovereign Market is still young, he is excited for what the future holds. And he says he hopes that as the market grows, so will the variety of products.
“What I'd like to see is more seasonal produce here. It seems like finding gardeners and farmers is harder than it is to find baked goods,” he says.
