Congressman Maloney hosts agriculture town hall meeting

Agriculture is one of Hudson Valley's leading industries and local farmers are fighting to keep it that way. Farmers from across the region turned out for an Agricultural Town Hall Meeting hosted by Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney. YNN's Meredith Zaritheny was there and has more on how local leaders and farmers are teaming up to save the farming way of life.

WARWICK, N.Y. -- Agriculture is one of Hudson Valley's leading industries and local farmers are fighting to keep it that way.

"U.S. growers feeding U.S. people. We can feed our own people the moment we stop feeding our own people," said John Glebocki, owner of J. Glebocki Farms in Goshen.

Farmers from across the region turned out for an Agricultural Town Hall Meeting hosted by Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney. It was standing room only inside Warwick Town Hall as more than 200 farmers turned out for an Agriculture Town Hall Meeting Wednesday hosted by Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney.

"From what I understand about agriculture, policy is still developing, but everything that I see, it looks like these laws were written for somebody else, they're not written for you, they're not written for our kind of farms, big farms, big agra business in the Mid West other places. Our farms are under 200 acres and are often family run," said Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney.

Farmers from across Orange County brought up a number of issues including the Farm Bill and crop insurance. They say after superstorm Sandy, both are vital to their livelihood.

"Right now within the Farm Bill might address Crop Insurance, again it's an issue that affected many farmers here in the Hudson Valley. We've been wiped out by various disasters," said Chris Pawelski, Pine Island onion farmer.

Congressman Maloney is a member of the House Agricultural Committee and also serves on a several agricultural subcommittees. He is a strong supporter of local farmers and producers.

"We're going to be doing a farm bill this year and that's very important, so I'm hoping that we're going to have an opportunity to actually put into legislation that some of the things that will help the community," said Congressman Maloney.

"We've done what we can within the system. We kinda need someone, some more people fighting for us on the hill," said Pawelski.

Last year, Congress failed to pass the long-term Farm Bill, instead opting for a short term extension that expiries in the fall. Now, as Congress considers a long-term Farm Bill, Congressman Maloney says he is ready to fight to get it passed for Hudson Valley farmers.