When low antimicrobial use is not enough - can we change farmer behavior

Reducing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major challenge of our time.

Accomplishing this necessitates decreasing and rethinking antimicrobial use (AMU) in livestock, where farmers and veterinarians have central roles. Prudent AMU involves several farmer and veterinarian behaviors.

We hypothesize that benchmarking (BM; comparing results to a standard) and motivational interviewing (MI; a client-centered communication method for stimulating behavior change) can effectively facilitate farmers’ prudency in AMU.We investigate the usefulness of BM and MI in this context by studying dairy farmers´ behavioral intentions (BI), as measured by questions concerning underlying beliefs according to the Theory of Planned Behavior.

Non-prudent AMU dairy farms are identified by combining data on AMU, animal health records and a questionnaire on BI.

Farms are randomly allocated to one of three groups receiving either 1) information and BM, 2) information and MI counseling or 3) information only (control). Farmers´ BI pre and post intervention will be compared. Qualitative case studies using in-depth interviews and observations of farmers complement the quantitative studies.

Veterinarians´ alignment with farmers´ attitudes towards a prudent AMU are investigated in in-depth interviews. The project addresses the new Swedish strategy against AMR.

It explores novel means to combat AMR, empower advisory services and bridge the knowing‑doing gap while contributing to sustainable development.