Pat Ryan visits Orange County farms to support affordability, farmers

A tour of three Orange County farms put land access, farmworker housing and the cost of keeping local agriculture viable in the spotlight Monday as U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan and his team stopped at Chester Agricultural Center, Pawelski Farms and Soons Orchards.

The visit came as Orange County agriculture continues to serve as both an economic engine and a defining part of the county’s identity. For growers, the pressure points are familiar and expensive: land access, labor and housing for the people who harvest the crops and keep the operations running. Ryan’s district includes Orange County and parts of Ulster and Dutchess counties, making the county’s farm economy a central issue for his office.

At Chester Agricultural Center in Chester, the discussion centered on one of the region’s most ambitious farm-support projects. The center says it sits on more than 270 acres of Orange County’s Black Dirt farmland and aims to help grow an equitable and inclusive regional food system. Its farmland access program is designed to give early-stage farmers long-term, secure tenure, while also providing leased access to wash-and-pack space, cold storage, greenhouses and storage barns. The center also says it offers Spanish-English language access and bilingual technical assistance, a practical service for a workforce that often includes immigrant labor.

The most concrete affordability piece on the site is the farmworker housing project backed by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. NYSERDA says the project will include 34 new seasonal and permanent rental units across 10 buildings for low- and very-low-income farmers and farm laborers, along with a community education and event space. Ryan’s office previously identified Chester Agricultural Center as the sponsor of the Farmer and Farmworkers affordable housing project, underscoring his long-running interest in the site.

The other stops showed the breadth of Orange County’s farm economy. Pawelski Farms sits in Goshen at 736 Pulaski Highway. Soons Orchards, between Middletown and Goshen, says the family farm is 112 years old and grows more than 85 kinds of apples and 20 kinds of peaches and nectarines. Orange County tourism listings say the orchard offers more than 55 apple varieties, along with cider, pies, donuts, fudge, jams and other farm products.

The tour offered a clear snapshot of what would matter most if federal attention turns into action: land that farms can afford to keep, housing for workers who keep them running, and infrastructure that helps local agriculture stay competitive in a county where every acre and every harvest counts.