As the November election heats up, NJFC has been sharing the food industry position with the two leading gubernatorial candidates that NJ’s food industry is one of the state’s greatest assets. Our member food retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers, and beverage companies are more than just businesses — they are lifelines. They support hundreds of thousands of jobs, pump billions into wages, and anchor local communities all across the Garden State. They also provide something far greater than numbers: reliability in ensuring that nearly 10 million New Jersey residents can put food on their tables every day, and nothing was more evident than the industry resiliency response to the COVID crisis.
And yet, despite this indispensable role, current state policies make it harder for our industry to thrive — and far more expensive for New Jersey families to eat.
Data shows food prices in NJ are among the most expensive because every step in NJ’s supply chain is weighed down by some of the heaviest costs in America. The country’s highest property and insurance taxes, unemployment insurance, corporate and income taxes, skyrocketing energy bills, real estate, regulatory fines — on every front, our state has created hurdles that pile onto food prices. And unlike in other industries, food is not a luxury we can skip.
When policymakers treat this industry as though it can endlessly absorb new mandates or higher fees, they’re wrong. In reality, every added requirement trickles down to the consumer in the form of higher checkout costs.
We recognize there’s a difference between thoughtful policy and regulatory overkill. If we want to see what effective state policy looks like, we need only look at New Jersey’s landmark single-use plastic and paper bag ban.
Since its adoption in 2022, more than 24 billion plastic bags and nearly half a billion paper bags have been eliminated from circulation. That’s a staggering victory for the environment and industry sustainability goals, and was accomplished only because government, business, and consumers worked together. Parking lots and creeks aren’t littered with flimsy bags anymore, and our communities are undeniably cleaner. That’s what balanced, collaborative policymaking delivers.
So why not take that spirit of partnership and apply it elsewhere?
For years, food retailers have raised alarms about uneven “weights and measures” enforcement. Retailers fully support reliable consumer protections. But when compliance varies from county to county, it creates chaos for multi-town operators and unfair costs that ultimately hit consumers. A uniform state approach would resolve this, but policymakers have let the problem linger for decades and it has become a cost of doing business in NJ.
Even more glaring is the fractured nature of food governance in Trenton. Currently, programs tied to food — like SNAP, WIC, food safety, and nutrition oversight are scattered across multiple departments. The result is a confusing patchwork with diluted impact.
It’s time New Jersey created a single “Department of Agriculture and Food.” Other major industries already have centralized state oversight. Why not food, one of our largest and most essential industries? Doing so would not grow government but consolidate it, making it leaner, more efficient, and far more impactful for businesses and consumers alike.
Unfortunately, we’re seeing more examples of government overreach. Proposals to ban certain food additives, dictate food date-labeling and artificially create markets for recycling food waste, may sound noble — but in practice, they clash with national standards, drive up costs, and confuse consumers and food retailers.
Even ideas like restricting what families can buy with SNAP benefits, or prohibiting daily adjustments to staple food pricing, ignore the economic realities of running a grocery store. These measures don’t address the root challenges of affordability and nutrition; they simply punish the food business.
The same holds true for proposals to expand online lottery sales, diverting revenue from corner stores that rely on foot traffic, or for contractor reclassification rules that would crush flexibility for many independent businesses and workers. Each of these policies chips away at the industry piece by piece, without offering a real path to improve consumer outcomes.
Despite these challenges, the pathway forward is clear — and hopeful. Policymakers have the opportunity to champion New Jersey’s food economy rather than burden it. Doing so requires impactful actions like maintaining the industry as a stakeholder in economic and emergency planning; streamlining excessive regulations that drive up costs without improving safety or fairness; investing in workforce training, food safety partnerships, and energy-efficient technologies; protecting food security programs like SNAP while enhancing nutrition education instead of restricting choice; and reforming swipe fee burdens.
NJ cannot afford to treat the food business as an afterthought. This industry is not just one of many — it is a foundation to every community. The pandemic and Superstorm Sandy taught us how fragile supply chains can be and state and local partnerships can mean the difference between empty shelves and resilient communities.
If policymakers want to leave a legacy of smart governance, they must stop piling costly burdens on this essential industry and start building a system that lets it thrive. When businesses, government, and consumers are treated as partners, it can stabilize prices — we strengthen communities, safeguard the environment, and ensure food security for everyone in the Garden State.
The question is not whether New Jersey can afford to prioritize its food industry. The real question is: can we afford not to?
