Regulating antimicrobial resistance: market intermediaries, poultry and the audit lock-in

Steve Hinchliffe (), Alison Bard, Kin Wing Chan, Katie Adam, Ann Bruce, Kristen Reyher and Henry Buller
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Steve Hinchliffe: University of Exeter
Alison Bard: University of Bristol
Kin Wing Chan: University of Exeter
Katie Adam: University of Edinburgh
Ann Bruce: Innogen Institute and Science, University of Edinburgh
Kristen Reyher: University of Bristol
Henry Buller: University of Exeter

Agriculture and Human Values, 2024, vol. 41, issue 2, No 27, 814 pages

Abstract: Abstract Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become one of the defining challenges of the twenty-first century. Food production and farming are a key if troubling component of that challenge. Livestock production accounts for well over half of annual global consumption of antimicrobials, though the contribution of the sector to drug resistance is less clear. As a result, there is an injunction to act in advance of incontrovertible evidence for change. In this paper we engage with the role of market actors in the precautionary regulation of farming practices and AMR threats. The paper takes the UK poultry sector as exemplary of an audit-led process that has, in recent years, achieved impressive reductions in antimicrobial use. Using qualitative interview data with farmers and veterinarians we chart the changing practices that have accompanied this reduction in treatments. We use this analysis to raise some cautions around audit-led systems of regulation. Audits can lock farms and animals into particular versions of farming and animal health; they can elevate harmful compensatory practices (including disinfectant uses); and they can reproduce an actuarial approach to an issue that does not fit the conventions of risk management. The paper presents the considerable successes that have been achieved over a short period of time in a livestock sector, while generating notes of caution concerning the audit-led management of livestock-related AMR threats.

Keywords: Antimicrobial resistance; Farming; Audit; Regulation; Social science (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s10460-023-10525-4

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