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

Author

Listed:
  • 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)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Steve Hinchliffe & Alison Bard & Kin Wing Chan & Katie Adam & Ann Bruce & Kristen Reyher & Henry Buller, 2024. "Regulating antimicrobial resistance: market intermediaries, poultry and the audit lock-in," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 41(2), pages 801-814, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:41:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s10460-023-10525-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-023-10525-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Steve Hinchliffe & Andrea Butcher & Muhammad Meezanur Rahman, 2018. "The AMR problem: demanding economies, biological margins, and co-producing alternative strategies," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Alex Hughes & Emma Roe & Suzanne Hocknell, 2021. "Food supply chains and the antimicrobial resistance challenge: On the framing, accomplishments and limitations of corporate responsibility," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(6), pages 1373-1390, September.
    3. Susanne Freidberg, 2017. "Big Food and Little Data: The Slow Harvest of Corporate Food Supply Chain Sustainability Initiatives," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 107(6), pages 1547-1547, November.
    4. Susanne Freidberg, 2017. "Big Food and Little Data: The Slow Harvest of Corporate Food Supply Chain Sustainability Initiatives," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 107(6), pages 1389-1406, November.
    5. Claas Kirchhelle, 2018. "Pharming animals: a global history of antibiotics in food production (1935–2017)," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 1-13, December.
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