Sub-therapeutic Antibiotics and the Efficiency of U.S. Hog Farms

Nigel Key and William McBride

No 124725, 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: Antimicrobial drugs are frequently fed to hogs at sub-therapeutic levels to promote feed efficiency and growth. However, in response to concerns that sub-therapeutic antibiotics (STAs) are promoting the development of antimicrobial drug-resistant bacteria, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently adopted a strategy to phase out antibiotics for such “production uses.” This study uses a stochastic frontier model to estimate the costs to U.S. hog producers of a ban on STAs for growth promotion. To address potential sample selection issues, we employ a recently developed empirical approach that corrects for biases from both observed and unobserved variables.

Keywords: Agricultural and Food Policy; Agricultural Finance; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Health Economics and Policy; Livestock Production/Industries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 22
Date: 2012
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr
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Journal Article: Sub-therapeutic Antibiotics and the Efficiency of U.S. Hog Farms (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea12:124725

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.124725

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