The face of Pennsylvania agriculture is changing. In animal agriculture, new technologies and marketing arrangements have led to larger farms, consolidation and geographic shifts in production. Where industrialized farming occurs in close proximity to rural residents there is potential for increased concern about environmental and other effects of animal operations.

In 1998, Penn State surveyed municipal officials' across the state regarding their views and policies relating to animal agriculture. Summaries of the findings (not individual municipal replies) are presented in several forms on this website.

While response to the survey was good (a statewide average response rate of 53 percent), several things should be kept in mind when reviewing the results. First, the average results are less likely to represent officials' views in those counties or regions with lower response rates. Second, the results reflect the view of the municipal representative completing the survey and may not reflect the full township board's opinion. Also, the results reflect officials' views in 1998 and the situation may have changed in some areas.

State-wide Summary

An article summarizing the major findings and implications of the survey appeared in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology Farm Economics newsletter. Click here to view the article.

Responses to Key Questions in the Survey:

**Most files are in PDF format. To read them you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can download it here for free.