Synthesis workshop on resourcing projects around antibiotics in agriculture
10.03.2025 - On 23 October 2024, a synthesis workshop was held on ongoing and recently completed resourcing projects run by the Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG) around the topic of antibiotics in agriculture. The project organisations of the three resourcing projects «Sanierung der von Staphylokokkus aureus Genotyp B (SAGB) verursachten Mastitis» (cleaning up mastitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus genotype B (SAGB), «Kälbergesundheitsdienst» (calf health service) and «Kometian» exchanged experiences, lessons learned and challenges for the future. The aim was to find out how the positive results of the individual resourcing projects can be disseminated and thus generate a long-term impact in terms of reducing the need for antibiotics beyond the duration of the resourcing projects.
The agricultural resourcing programme is an innovation programme in which the federal administration provides financial support for projects designed to improve sustainability in the use of natural resources. Each resourcing project tests the feasibility and practicality of demonstrably effective technical, organisational and structural innovations in the context of Swiss farming. The projects comprise a six-year implementation phase and a further two-year phase to verify that the impact is maintained. All three resourcing projects can look back on a successful project phase, which included setting up the calf health service (Kälbergesundheitsdienst or KGD) and a service providing advice on complementary medicine for farm animals (Kometian). The third project reduced antibiotic use in cattle by eradicating the Staphylococcus aureus genotype B pathogen in the canton of Ticino. Despite these successes and different project approaches, the organisations are confronted with similar challenges after the project phase. In particular, these include expanding the measures to other geographical areas of Switzerland and maintaining the impact after the project has ended. Possible reasons for this include the time required to implement the measures at the farm level and by the veterinary profession. The financial component also represents a major obstacle. While many measures were subsidised by project funds during the project phase, instruments for the long-term funding of measures are currently lacking. The discussions showed how important it is to raise awareness among the various stakeholders about the measures and their importance in terms of the responsible use of antibiotics, to educate stakeholders and to demonstrate the value added by the measures. This will help ensure that the measures remain effective in the long term and that the positive results are disseminated further.