Summary 121 On the road towards antibiotics-free pig farming Eijck, I. en L. van Gaalen InnovationNetwork Report No. 11.2.268, Utrecht, The Netherlands, August 2011. As a stepping stone towards a breakthrough “antibiotics-free chain” concept, InnovationNetwork has explored the feasibility of antibioticsfree farming. This project sought answers to the questions: what does an antibiotics-free farm look like, what will the animal welfare consequences be, is antibiotics-free farming always feasible, what risks are to be expected from practical experiments, and what will the economic implications be? To answer these questions, six meetings were organized with two animal farmers, several vets and experts. Suppliers, service providers and entrepreneurs from other sectors were also involved. The two farmers in the project are leaders in the field of animal health in the pig sector. To assess the effects of antibiotics-free farming on animal welfare, the participants felt that experiments needed to be carried out at various farms first before any meaningful statements could be made about this issue. The importance of positive incentives was also mentioned. Positive incentives for not using antibiotics are often absent at primary farms, but also in the sector as a whole. What does an antibiotics-free farm look like? No single answer can be given to this question. Interestingly, the most important suggestions for solutions did not concern the “hardware” but mainly the “software”, i.e. influences via man and animal. The most important problem-solving approach is to achieve a change in attitude so that everyone involved in the farm has a genuine commit- Pagina 131
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