We asked AMR experts and EDAR8 Scientific Committee Members to weigh in on the issue.

AMR is a significant concern in a growing list of biosecurity challenges facing our global food systems. As agricultural production intensifies to meet rising demand, the use of antimicrobials in livestock and food production changes the risk of resistant microorganisms and their genes moving between animals, the environment, and people. This EDAR8 theme explores where those risks lie, how they can be mitigated, and what the future of sustainable agricultural production looks like in an AMR constrained world.

According to Dr Ernesto Liebana of the European Food Safety Authority and EDAR8 Scientific Program Committee member, one of the most pressing challenges is closing key knowledge gaps at the livestock–environment–human interface. Current surveillance systems often fail to track how resistance genes move from farms into wider ecosystems and people, and from humans and the environment to farms. The role that good biosecurity, production and food safety practices may play in mitigating AMR is potentially under-estimated. While antimicrobial stewardship varies across systems and regions, viable alternatives to antimicrobial growth promoters and therapeutic agents also remain underdeveloped. This is a particular challenge for small scale producers in low- and middle-income countries, where animal welfare, productivity, and farmer livelihoods must be balanced carefully.

Encouragingly, rapid advances in technology and interdisciplinary research are accelerating progress. Whole genome sequencing and metagenomics enable real time tracking of resistance mechanisms across agricultural environments, while point of care diagnostics are helping reduce unnecessary antimicrobial use in livestock. Emerging alternatives, including bacteriophage therapy, antimicrobial peptides, and probiotics, offer possible pathways to maintain productivity without exacerbating resistance. Digital surveillance platforms that connect veterinary, agricultural, and human health data are also strengthening early warning systems and supporting more responsive policy action.

Meaningful progress in this space, however, requires collaboration that extends beyond traditional disciplinary silos. Dr Ernesto Liebana emphasizes that true One Health integration, linking veterinarians, clinicians, agricultural scientists, environmental microbiologists, economists, and policymakers, is essential. Partnerships that engage farmers as active research collaborators, alongside coordinated international efforts that connect research capacity with on the ground implementation expertise, will be critical to delivering context appropriate and scalable solutions.

Despite the scale of the challenge, there is real cause for optimism. Growing global recognition of AMR as a shared biosecurity threat is driving policy change, and successful examples of farmers, veterinarians, medical professionals, and researchers implementing sustainable alternatives continue to demonstrate that protecting animal health, food security, and human health can go hand in hand.

At EDAR8 several sessions are relevant to this theme:

• THEMATIC SESSION Environmental drivers, transmission & impacts of AMR in food production systems (agricultural AMU, AMR, AMS)
• THEMATIC SESSION One Health AMR genomic epidemiology and surveillance
• WORKSHOP Use of antimicrobial agents in veterinary practice
• WORKSHOP AMR at the food-environment interface: Evaluating exposure pathways