The cornerstone of that industry is the family farm. 99 percent of North Carolina’s farms are family-owned and operated, according to the USDA’s most recent data. Henderson County’s more than 450 farms — with 70% of those being less than 49 acres in size — generated cash receipts for more than $70 million in 2020.

But North Carolina’s farmland is disappearing. Over the last quarter century, as we have seen an influx of more than 3 million people moving to our state, an average of 500 farms per year have been lost to residential and commercial development to keep pace with this population growth. In 1997, there were 59,120 farms operating in our state; in 2021 that number dwindled to just 45,100.

As the pandemic revealed, vulnerabilities in the supply chain can lead to shortages and soaring prices — reinforcing the importance of locally-sourced produce, meat, and dairy products.

How do we guarantee the future food supply — food security —amidst the increasing financial pressure on farmers to sell their land to make way for condo complexes, big box stores, and data centers?

Tim Moffitt is working with farmers to develop a self-sustaining, non-taxpayer funded program that will protect North Carolina’s family farms forever. With an understanding of the financial pressures being applied by developers, he is structuring a “development rights acquisition fund” to compete with commercial developers by offering fair market value for a parcel’s development rights. This will limit non-agricultural uses in perpetuity while protecting private ownership and saving the land necessary for food production — thereby protecting the future of our state and nation’s food supply.

Inflation, the highest it’s been in 40 years, is hurting North Carolina’s families, especially those with lower incomes, because it stifles economic freedom, opportunity, and growth. Real fears of a deepening recession (the shrinking of the economy, the opposite of growth) are looming.

Inflation is the result of the federal government spending money it doesn’t have and then printing more and more money to cover the loss (trillions of dollars in this case). “Inflation is made in Washington because only Washington can create money,” once observed the economist Milton Friedman.

Inflation makes every dollar worth less (because there’s so much more of it) and causes higher prices throughout the economy. The result? Food, gas, transportation, child care, rent — and almost everything else — costs much more than it did just a year ago. And although wages have risen since then, they haven’t kept up with the hike in prices. Paychecks are being stretched thinner and thinner.

What can be done at the state level to fight the effects of inflation? 

Tim Moffitt will enhance our economic freedom by eliminating the state income tax, allowing families to keep thousands more of their hard-earned dollars. North Carolina will join nine other states that do not levy a state income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming and New Hampshire.

Tim Moffitt will provide us with more economic opportunity by increasing the housing supply, which will drive down prices. Housing has become unaffordable for far too many of North Carolina’s low-income and middle-class families; we need to remove the every barrier that hinders the opportunity to enter the housing market. This includes reforming zoning rules, incentivizing infill development of blighted areas, repurposing old and abandoned structures, and reigning in regulations that unnecessarily block the development of new homes and hinder the approval process.

Tim Moffitt will drive economic growth by pursuing an aggressive course of regulatory reform, which will lower costs for the consumer and free up capital that can be used to increase workers’ wages and expand operations. Tim was the founding chairman of the Regulatory Reform Committee in the House, and he will use that expertise in the Senate to slash needless and expensive red tape that constrains our entrepreneurs and small businesses.