More than 70 percent of Ohioans who say they’re familiar with issues pertaining to large-scale poultry and livestock facilities are concerned that the farms pose a threat to Ohio’s water and stream quality.

According to an Ohio State survey of about 4,000 Ohioans conducted last summer, one-third of the respondents said they were familiar with the issues. Of those, 71 percent agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “Large-scale poultry and livestock facilities pose a serious threat to water and stream quality in Ohio.” In addition, 59 percent agreed or strongly agreed that the facilities “are a threat to rural quality of life.”

Jeff Sharp, an OARDC rural sociologist and one of the lead investigators of the survey, presented the study’s initial findings at a Dec. 12 conference.

Sharp also reported that the large scale-poultry and livestock issue currently appears to be a regional issue in the state, with nearly 56 percent of central Ohioans and 43 percent of northwest Ohioans reporting they were familiar with the issue compared with 25 percent of northeasterners and 27 percent of southwesterners.

Not surprisingly, respondents’ views of the livestock issue and other agricultural issues are often colored by how closely linked they are to farming, Sharp said.