• About SAAFE CRC

    Australia's Cooperative Research Centre for Solving Antimicrobial Resistance in Agribusiness, Food and Environments (SAAFE) brings together forward-thinking industries with leading research organisations and government agencies. Together, we are committed to protecting Australia’s food and agribusiness industries, and the environments in which they operate, from the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

    Working with more than 70 partner organisations that represent diverse areas ranging from viticulture, aquaculture and horticulture, to the water, organic waste, stockfeed and animal industries, SAAFE will, by 2033, invest more than $150M into collaborative research to mitigate AMR, helping partners develop, share and implement solutions. We aim to tackle AMR at source across a diverse and complex range of systems and environments.

    Australian food and agriculture has a reputation worldwide for premium quality, safety and sustainability. SAAFE will facilitate best practice AMR stewardship in the agribusiness, food and environmental sectors. This will help Australia expand and diversify export markets, and strengthen biosecurity. It will also protect human health.

    As part of its CRC program, the Australian Government has injected almost $35M into SAAFE.

  • What is AMR?

    Antimicrobials, including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitics have been used for decades to prevent and treat infections in humans, animals and plants.

    When microorganisms develop antimicrobial resistance (AMR), these drugs and chemicals no longer work. Common infections become much harder – and sometimes impossible – to treat. Humans, animals, and plants are all at risk from AMR.

    The Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Organisation for Animal Health, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations Environment Programme have jointly appealed to all countries to act urgently on AMR.

    The genetic basis of AMR is complex. Once AMR emerges, it can jump from one microbe to another through gene transfer. It can spread through water, waste, feed and food, the environment, animals and humans. This means AMR can be transmitted within and between populations and industries.

    Antimicrobials are essential for human, animal and plant health. But the more we use them, the more we encourage the development and spread of AMR. This has led to the concept of antimicrobial stewardship: ensuring the appropriate use of antimicrobials to safeguard their effectiveness while reducing the risk of AMR.

    Australia has committed to minimising the development and spread of AMR through strategies such as the National Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy – 2020 & Beyond and the One Health Master Action Plan.

  • Acknowledgement of Country

    SAAFE CRC’s head office is on Kaurna Country. SAAFE acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands, seas and waters of this Country, and of all areas in which we live and work across Australia.

    We respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ deep cultural and spiritual relationship with this land, and pay our respects to their Elders past and present.

    We acknowledge the diversity of Aboriginal peoples and their knowledge systems. We recognise the concept of One Health (which highlights the integrated nature of human, animal, plant, and environmental health) is not something new to Aboriginal peoples, and that embracing this knowledge and connection to Country is a vital step in the path to reconciliation.

    SAAFE is respectfully committed to a research program underpinned by the core 
value of Caring for Country.