Technical Abstract: Fetal programming is the ability to improve animal production and well-being by altering the maternal environment and holds enormous challenges and great opportunities for researchers and the animal industry. A symposium was held to provide an overview of current knowledge of fetal programming in relation to the animal sciences. Particular emphasis was placed on muscle tissue, milk supply, and reproduction across agriculturally-important species. This is an introduction to the symposium papers published from the Growth and Development Symposium titled “Fetal Programming in Animal Agriculture” held at the Joint Annual Meeting of the American Dairy Science Association, the Canadian Society of Animal Science, and the American Society of Animal Science in Montreal, Quebec, Canada July 12 to 16, 2009.