BOSTON (AP) — The state’s interim U.S. Senator William ‘‘Mo’’ Cowan is trying to make the most of his brief stint in Washington.

The Massachusetts Democrat says he’s trying to highlight the importance of the state’s agricultural and fishing industries.

Cowan sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee and recently attended his first committee hearing. Cowan is the first Massachusetts senator to sit on the committee since 1879.

Cowan said that while Massachusetts is not a corn or wheat belt state, it’s an important food producer. Besides being home to roughly 8,000 farms, he said Massachusetts also has over 80,000 fishermen.

He said Congress needs to be thinking about new threats to the nation’s farmers and fishermen, including those from climate change.