Money may not literally grow on trees, but a glance at North Carolina’s rural economies reveals that cash crops sprout not just in our long-cultivated cotton and tobacco fields: they now also root in the steep hillsides of northwestern Christmas tree farms and navigate the waters flowing through the … Read more

Suzanne Julian is a UNC-Chapel Hill graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in Public Administration. She is currently working with the STEP leadership team in Pamlico County as part of the Carolina Economic Revitalization Corps program. When the population of North Carolina’s Eastern Region inc … Read more

Lisa Stifler is a Research Associate with the Community & Economic Development Program. A previous post discussed preserving working waterfronts as an economic development tactic.  In a similar vein, preserving working farmland can also be an important community and economic development tactic f … Read more