Keep Needed Regulatory Reform in the 2023 N.C. Farm Act

The 2023 N.C. Farm Act, which the General Assembly is currently considering, contains a provision that would appropriately reform confusing and punishing N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) regulations for farmers. All the bill’s language would do is require North Carolina’s wetlands protections to match the federal government and not go any further. 

Farmers struggle under a mountain of federal and state regulatory, recordkeeping, and permitting requirements, severely impacting the bottom line. Under current North Carolina wetlands protection regulations, a low spot in a field can be brought under NCDEQ jurisdiction through an arbitrary process called a “significant nexus” analysis. On May 25, in a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court described the “significant nexus” theory as “particularly implausible.” Clearly, the “significant nexus” is not a reliable test for determining where the State will exercise regulatory jurisdiction over private land and waters.

The N.C. Farm Act of 2023 proposes a common sense solution by recognizing that the Federal regulation standards are adequate. This change helps all North Carolina farm families navigate complex environmental mandates more easily. 

The usual suspects who voiced opposition are no friends of North Carolina’s farm families. Instead, they consist of lawyers with the Southern Environmental Law Center and the N.C. Conservation Network’s policy director. 

What is extremely troubling is that Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment is making regulatory pushes by using “Pay-to-Play” journalism through North Carolina’s newspapers of record – the Charlotte Observer and Raleigh News and Observer. These California-owned newspapers launched a new “Pay-to-Play” environmental series last weekend, pushing strangling environmental regulations – scaring vulnerable communities along the way. If California regulations are the model, Heaven help farm families and rural North Carolina. As we know, California is a regulatory dumpster fire. We must resist these extreme efforts backed by shadowy funders. Our General Assembly wisely supports economic opportunities for our farming and rural counties. A much-welcomed regulatory reform is in the 2023 Farm Act.

Call your Representatives today and say pass the 2023 Farm Act with the much-needed regulatory reform.