HJR780 / Guarantees right to grow, raise, and choose your own food.

HJR 780 would amend Article XI of the Tennessee Constitution to recognize a “natural, inherent, and unalienable” right for every Tennessean to save and exchange seeds, and to grow, raise, harvest, produce, acquire, and consume the food of their own choosing. Those rights could be exercised on any land not explicitly zoned against residential or agricultural use, provided individuals do not trespass, poach, steal, or otherwise abuse private property rights or public resources. The amendment also affirms that nothing in these new rights interferes with the state’s authority to prohibit cultivation of plants used to produce illegal substances.

This proposal is aimed at enshrining food self-sufficiency—seed saving, home gardening, small-scale livestock—into Tennessee’s highest law. It would constrain local governments from forbidding backyard or neighborhood gardens on any property zoned residential, agricultural, or mixed use. At the same time, it preserves government’s traditional policing powers against theft, trespass, nuisance, and controlled-substance cultivation.

By elevating food production to a constitutional guarantee, Tennessee signals strong support for individual liberty, private property use, and resilience against supply-chain disruptions. Farmers, homesteaders, urban gardeners, and seed-exchangers would gain an extra layer of protection from overly restrictive zoning or municipal ordinances. Because it is a state constitutional amendment, rather than a statutory change, it would bind future legislatures and courts to uphold these rights unless the people vote to remove or modify them.