Kate McDonald Polakiewicz Joins SWNY Dairy, LIvestock & Field Crops Team

SOUTHWEST, NEW YORK (August 21st, 2025) – Kate McDonald Polakiewicz has joined Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Southwest New York Dairy, Livestock & Field Crops Program (SWNYDLFC) as its Farm Business Management Specialist. She will be offering programming in financial management, production economics, business planning, and market analysis.

Kate is a production and extension systems specialist with 15 years of experience working in federal government, private sector, academic, and international settings. She comes to CCE from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) where she managed the Farmer-to-Farmer program, a longstanding agricultural extension program that provided short-term technical assistance from US-based farmers to other farmer communities abroad. She also managed large-scale agricultural research awards in horticulture, agronomy, aquaculture, and in scaling new technologies for practical farm use. Before USAID, Kate worked on agriculture programs with farmers while living in Ghana, Ethiopia, and Uganda. Her work in research and extension also brought her to lead education on soil fertility and plant pathology in Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. Kate holds a master’s degree from the University of California, Davis, and lives with her young family in Amherst, NY.

Kate is interested in applying her knowledge of agriculture to be of service to producers in Southwest New York production systems. She’ll spend her first few months with CCE becoming familiar with local farm operations, meeting and learning from farmers, and building her network. If you are part of our region’s farming and ag service community, reach out to say hello at kem348@cornell.edu or 716-640-0522.

SWNYDLFC is a partnership between Cornell University and the CCE Associations of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, and Steuben counties. Their team includes Amy Barkley, Livestock Management Specialist and Team Leader (716-640-0844); Kate McDonald Polakiewicz, Farm Business Management Specialist (716-640-0522); Katelyn Miller, Field Crops and Forage Specialist (716-640-2047); and Katie Callero, Dairy Management Specialist (607-422-6788). Cornell is an equal opportunity employer. For more information click here.

For more information about Cornell Cooperative Extension, contact your county’s Association Executive Director. Allegany County – Laura Hunsberger, lkh47@cornell.edu or 585-268-7644. Cattaraugus County – Kelly McDonald, kmm525@cornell.edu or 716-699-2377. Chautauqua County – Emily Reynolds, eck47@cornell.edu or 716-664-9502. Erie County – Diane Held, dbh24@cornell.edu or 716-652-5400. Steuben County – Tess McKinley, tsm223@cornell.edu, or 607-664-2301. 

Last updated August 26, 2025