Hall, left, and Pawelski, in the muck

PINE ISLAND – Congressman John Hall’s philosophy to learn about his constituents and their lives is to walk in their shoes so he has helped on construction sites and spent a day installing solar panels with a crew.

On Friday, he plowed the black dirt fields of Pine Island with farmer Chris Pawelski.

“Even more accurate today I learned the difficulties that farmers encounter, challenges they encounter – drought one year, floods the next, government regulations either being too stringent or advantageous to big agri-businesses in other parts of the country but not to small farmers like them,” he said. “We’re trying to even those things out and make it a level playing field, and also make sure we can get our food locally.”

Hall said he would like to see local produce departments set up in area supermarkets and is working toward that goal.