[2] The department's purpose is to support a sustainable and safe supply of food and agricultural products; be good stewards of the land and natural resources; promote the viability of farms; protect consumers; and safeguard the health of people, plants, animals and the environment.

The current Secretary of Agriculture, Russell Redding, was appointed by Governor Tom Wolf in January 2015 and confirmed in May 2015.

The department is under the direction and supervision of the secretary of Agriculture, who is appointed by the governor of Pennsylvania.

The department is subdivided into program bureaus, each headed by a bureau director.

In 2014, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture caused a seed-lending library to shut down and promised to curtail any similar efforts in the state.