Preserving  York County Agricultural Resources

The County's agriculture products are as diversified as those of its industries since the climate of York County is ideal for the production of many crops. The annual rainfall average is 39 inches and the average growing season is 170 days. April 25th is the average date of the last killing-frost and October 9th is the average date of the first killing-frost. The County' s acreage is used for 274,000 acres cropland, 80,600 acres pasture, 150,300 acres woodland. York County excels in the growing of soybeans, barley, oats, and wheat, ranking first in the State are soybeans and wheat ranking 2nd corn and barley.

In the growing of commercial vegetables, York County ranks 3rd in value of vegetables grown with more commercial canners than any other County in Pennsylvania. The principle vegetable crops grown are sweet corn, tomatoes, beans and peas. In addition, farmers grow many other vegetables for roadside markets. York County is fortunate in having three outstanding farmers' markets in the greater York Area.

We also rank 3rd in potato production that has a value of $3,978,500. We have three of the largest potato chip plants in Pennsylvania located in York County.

Although not the leading fruit County in the state, the York County fruit industry ranks 4th in peaches and 8th in apples and has an annual value of $3,264,000. One of the leading apple varieties is still the York Imperial which was actually developed in the County early in the 19th century.

Livestock is the most important agriculture enterprise in York County. According to the latest census, the County has approximately 14,200 milk cows that produce 208,740,000 pounds of milk annually, valued at $31,785,000. Most dairymen are now using artificial breeding which will result in future improvement of the dairy herds. Another important phase of the livestock industry is beef and swine. The value of all livestock sold from our last census is $44,078,000.

York County is the sixth leading poultry producing county in Pennsylvania and one of the leading counties in the United States. In 1986 York County produced eggs with a value of $8,087,000 and the poultry also produced approximately $12,115,000 worth of products.

In the Hanover area, which comprises the western part of the County, two of the largest farms in the Country are devoted to breeding harness race horses. The Hanover Shoe Farm has been in existence for many years and is known as the largest farm in the world devoted to this business.

Lobell's Horse Farm, which has been in operation a comparatively short time, is developing into one of the leading breeding establishments in the County.

There are 12 farms in the County which are assessed at over $1 million.

The York County Agriculture Society operates the York Inter-State Fair which has an enclosure of 120 acres and is one of the oldest, largest and most outstanding fairs in the nation.