Chris Pawelski

Chris Pawelski has been farming since he was old enough to run behind a harvester picking up stray onions. For nearly 25 years, he’s been a staunch advocate for farmers in the Hudson Valley, helping to shape and direct agricultural policy and legislation in the areas of trade, labor, food waste/recovery, conservation programs, flood control, pesticide usage & application, crop insurance, and disaster aid.

Pawelski’s advocacy efforts on the federal level have benefited numerous farmers. He successfully lobbied for a $10 million earmark to aid Orange County onion farmers that was part of the 2002 Farm Bill. He worked with legislators and the USDA to develop a crop insurance pilot program that was implemented within one year of its approval (almost unheard of in the industry). He has presented testimony on Capitol Hill before the United States Senate Agriculture Committee. He was interviewed by the Senate Democrat Policy Committee concerning the potential effects of the 2002 Farm Bill.

Working with then-Rep. John Hall, Pawelski developed legislation for a new soil conservation program for muck farms called the Conservation on Muck Soils (COMS) program. It was a $50 million a year or $250 million over five years program that passed in the House version of the 2008 Farm Bill. Though it did not survive the final conference committee negotiations, it continues to be considered for subsequent Farm Bills. Most recently, Pawelski was interviewed by the United States Department of Justice on the recent Bayer-Monsanto merger.

At the New York State level, he has assisted in securing funding for the benefit of farmers and farm workers. He successfully lobbied for the return of $50,000 in onion research funding in the New York State FY19 budget, increased to $70,000 in the FY20 budget, and successfully lobbied for an FY19 grant to help fund the Warwick Area Migrant Committee summer program for migrant farmworker children. Pawelski and his wife were the subjects of the acclaimed documentary short called "Muckville," which talked about farmer depression and suicide and premiered in October of 2023 at the 24th Annual Woodstock Film Festival.

Pawelski regularly appears in and/or serves as a background source on agricultural policy and legislation in numerous media outlets.