Animal Farming and Antimicrobial Resistance
Farming practices are contributing to this unseen global public health risk
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the biggest public health threats of our time, and factory farming has a significant role in this. Over 70% of the worldwide use of antibiotics is for animal farming instead of human health.1 If no action is taken then by 2050, according to the World Health Organization, antimicrobial resistance could cause 10 million deaths each year.2
A significant reduction of the use of antimicrobials in agriculture is urgently needed. This will only be possible if we address the root causes that make antibiotic treatments needed — namely the poor keeping conditions of animals and the large scale of industrial farming.
Factory farms urgently need to reduce antimicrobial use
Farmed animals are raised for rapid growth and high production yield to the detriment of their welfare and health.3-5 The poor conditions in which animals are kept in factory farms includes, overcrowding, poor air quality, lack of outdoor access and the inability to engage in natural behaviours — and in turn these weaken their immune systems. As a result they become more susceptible to injuries and infectious diseases, increasing the spreading of diseases among animals and from animals to humans.4,5
Weakened health necessitates the use of large quantities of antimicrobials.4-7 Antimicrobials are not only used to prevent and treat infections, but also to promote growth.8-10 Improving the welfare of farmed animals, through better husbandry practices and more humane living conditions — such as the rearing of slow-growing chicken breeds, providing outdoor access to pigs, weaning piglets at an older age, and improving the management of calves — leads to a decrease in antimicrobial use in farming.11-14
One Health: The approach to tackle AMR
The rise of antimicrobial resistance poses a significant threat to human health, as resistance genes can be transferred between bacteria affecting animals, environment and humans.15,16 For example, the use of antimicrobials in animal farming negatively impacts soil health and water quality. These substances have been found in high concentrations in slurry, manure, soil fertilised by slurry, rivers and lakes, making these bodies of water temporary reservoirs of AMR.17
However, only restricting the use of antimicrobials in farmed animals is not sufficient, as it can threaten the welfare of animals and livelihoods of farmers if no therapeutic options are available for sick animals. It is urgent to address the factors putting animal health and welfare at risk, as well as the economic viability of the agricultural sector. According to the World Bank, by 2050 animal agriculture production could decline 11% because of AMR.18
AMR is a complex issue that calls for an approach that recognises the connection between human-animal-environmental health and the need to find balanced solutions that improve health outcomes for all. The One Health approach is needed to address the main drivers of infectious diseases in animal farming (i.e., poor welfare, high-stress environments and rapid growth rates) in order to reduce antimicrobial use by the sector.
Reducing Antibiotic Use by Improving Animal Welfare
Good practices & enabling mechanisms in the EU
What is being done to address AMR in farming?
As the threat of AMR continues to grow, there is a rising political will to make bold and specific commitments to reduce the use of antimicrobials in agriculture. This concern has been highlighted in the past by global political efforts, including the 2016 Political Declaration of the High-Level Meeting of the UN General Assembly on AMR and the 2022 Muscat Ministerial Manifesto.
This political will was renewed by the adoption of the second Political Declaration on AMR during the UN General Assembly in 2024. This declaration now needs to be followed by political commitments and concrete measures to tackle the challenge of AMR in intensive farming. These measures need to address the root causes of the problem, namely the inadequate keeping conditions and poor welfare of farmed animals, while promoting sustainable, high-welfare farming practices.
To achieve this, FOUR PAWS is working with several international stakeholders such as the World Health Organisation, the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Organisation for Animal Health. The overuse of antibiotics in agrifood systems cannot be ignored any longer by policymakers around the world. Action must be taken, or we risk losing the forecasted 39 million human lives to AMR by 2050.2
FOUR PAWS calls on policymakers to:
- Reduce the number of animals farmed to improve animal welfare and health and lower the need for antimicrobials in agriculture.
- Improve animal welfare in farms to ensure that animals are in good health and their immune systems are strong, making them less prone to infections and injuries that require antimicrobial treatment.
- Promote genetic diversity and more resilient, locally-adapted breeds in farming as they are less reliant on antimicrobials compared to high-performance breeds.
Source
2Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance 1990–2021: a systematic analysis with forecasts to 2050. [accessed 2025 June 26]. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(24)01867-1
3SELECTIVE BREEDING The farmed animal health and welfare problems arising from selective breeding. [accessed 2025 June 26]. https://www.ciwf.org.uk/media/7452117/selective-breeding-report-september-2022.pdf
4What’s Wrong With Factory Farming? Public Health Ethics. 2015;8(3):246–254. doi:10.1093/phe/phu001
5General Principles for the welfare of animals in production systems: The underlying science and its application. The Veterinary Journal. 2013;198(1):19–27. doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2013.06.028
6A Systematic Review on the Link between Animal Welfare and Antimicrobial Use in Captive Animals. Animals. 2022;12(8):1025. doi:10.3390/ani12081025
7Linking Animal Welfare and Antibiotic Use in Pig Farming—A Review. Animals. 2022;12(2):216. doi:10.3390/ani12020216
8Use of antibiotics in broiler production: Global impacts and alternatives. Animal Nutrition. 2018;4(2):170–178. doi:10.1016/j.aninu.2018.03.002
9Factors associated with high antimicrobial use in young calves on Dutch dairy farms: A case-control study. Journal of Dairy Science. 2018;101(10):9259–9265. doi:10.3168/jds.2017-14252
10Influence of early use of antimicrobial on the health and performance of Holstein calves in the first month of life. Pesquisa Veterinária Brasileira. 2020;40:17–28. doi:10.1590/1678-5150-PVB-5722
11Adopting slower-growing breeds of chicken would reduce animal suffering significantly. [accessed 2025 June 26]. https://ourworldindata.org/adopting-slower-growing-breeds-of-chicken-would-reduce-animal-suffering-significantly
12Broiler flocks in production systems with slower-growing breeds and reduced stocking density receive fewer antibiotic treatments and have lower mortality. Poultry Science. 2024;103(11):104197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2024.104197
13Antibiotic and medical zinc oxide usage in Danish conventional and welfare-label pig herds in 2016–Preventive Veterinary Medicine. 2021;189:105283. doi:10.1016/j.prevetmed.2021.105283
14Effects of the novel concept ‘outdoor veal calf’ on antimicrobial use, mortality and weight gain in Switzerland. Preventive Veterinary Medicine. 2020;176:104907. doi:10.1016/j.prevetmed.2020.104907
15Genetic Diversity and Virulence Profiling of Multi-Drug Resistant Escherichia coli of Human, Animal, and Environmental Origins. Antibiotics. 2022;11(8):1061. doi:10.3390/antibiotics11081061
16WHO’s List of Medically Important Antimicrobials: a risk management tool for mitigating antimicrobial resistance due to non-human use. [accessed 2025 June 26]. https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/gcp/who-mia-list-2024-lv.pdf
17Bracing for Superbugs: Strengthening environmental action in the One Health response to antimicrobial resistance. United Nations Environment Programme; 2023. [accessed 2025 June 26]. https://www.unep.org/resources/superbugs/environmental-action
18World Bank. Drug-resistant infections: a threat to our economic future. [accessed 2025 June 26]. https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/en/323311493396993758