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Follow the Pig

Project period

2019 - 2022

About the project

The project sought to identify the challenges of reducing use of antibiotics in pig production, thereby contributing to solving the challenges regarding food safety. Several initiatives have been launched in the Nordic countries to reduce use, avoid resistance, and limit negative human and environmental effects. Nevertheless, statistics indicate large differences in the use of antibiotics in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

The project studied the differences from a holistic business perspective rather than the prevalent medical perspective, uncovered learning and focused on how the pig production industry could succeed in balancing economic and sustainability goals.

Method

Four workshops explored, mapped, and compared pig production across Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden. Qualitative and quantitative primary and secondary data were gathered to examine how ecosystems and practices in the pig production of each country co-evolve with the interests of different stakeholders (e.g. farmers, slaughter houses, regulators, NGOs and retailers), providing a platform for shaping the future. Business and policy stakeholders were directly involved in the workshops thereby ensuring both relevance and uptake of results.

Findings

The first workshop Antibiotics & Resistance, Pig Meat Production & Consumption was organized by Professor Alexandra Waluszewski and hosted by Uppsala Antibiotic Center on 8 May 2019.

A vital conclusion to be drawn from the presentations and discussions on the first workshop in the ‘Follow the Pig’ project at Uppsala Antibiotic Center was that it is important not to limit discussions on AMR to the use versus non-use of antibiotics in pig and animal production. Instead, we need to work for and research ways to produce healthy animals – which will lead to positive side-effects, including productivity. Additional lessons are to be learned from the Swedish meat production and consumption setting.

The second workshop The Low Use of Antibiotics in Norway: The Case of Pigs was organized by Professor Debbie Harrison and hosted by the Department of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, BI Norwegian Business School on 4 March 2020.

A vital insight from presentations and discussions during the workshop concerning the production and monitoring regime underpinning the low use of antibiotics in Norwegian pig production was a strong national and collaborative focus by public authorities and R&D institutions on animal welfare. This determined focus seems to permeate the different parts of the industry setting, from breeding, animal husbandry, the organizing of how pigs were sold to the treatment of sick animals as well as national strategies aimed at systematically limiting the use of antibiotics.

The third workshop Sustainable Food Production: Innovating Future Reduction of Antibiotics in Pig Production was organized by Kristin B. Munksgaard and hosted by the Department of Entrepreneurship and Relationship Management, University of Southern Denmark (online due to the COVID-19 pandemic), 19–20 January 2021.

The presentations at this online workshop provided several different perspectives on innovating the future of pig production. Consumers, retailers, farmers, medical doctors and various industry actors all exhibit different understandings and approaches to more sustainable pork production and consumption: from farmers claiming a License to Produce, to consumers responsibilisation, to retailers taking a more proactive role in promoting animal welfare, to medical doctors arguing for improving transparency in antibiotics used in food animal production, to enabling consumers to make more informed purchase decisions, and NGOs calling for a societal contract on when food animal production is ‘sustainable enough’ to make farmers and the industry invest (or de-invest).

The final and fourth workshop Visioning and Shaping Sustainable Markets was organized by Professor Aino Halinen and hosted by Turku School of Economics, University of Turku, 24–25 May 2022.

The discussions during the final workshop focused on the grand-scale challenge of shaping business markets toward more sustainable futures. Relevant learnings were drawn from different industries on how market actors perceive and envision futures and markets, and how they engage and collaborate with others based on their images of these markets.

For further reading: Follow the Pig

Collaborators

  • Professor Aino Halinen-Kala, Turku School of Economics
  • Professor Alexandra Waluszewski, Uppsala University
  • Professor Debbie Harrison, BI Norwegian Business School

Researchers at SDU

Funding

Funded by NOS-HS Workshop Grant (419.450 SEK)

Scientific publications and dissemination from the research group

This section lists work in progress and published research resulting from and related to the project.

Cinti, A., Perna, A., & Waluszewski, A. (2020). Resistance to change and Antimicrobial resistance. Antibiotics as a value adding resource in animalbased food industry network: experiences from Italy (Marche Region) and Sweden. In The 36th IMP Conference.

Halinen, A. & Munksgaard, K.B. (2022). Shaping Sustainable Markets: Reducing Use of Antibiotics in Meat Production. Market Shaping Workshop, Linköping University, Sweden, September 15-16, 2022.

Halinen, A., Munksgaard, K.B., Harrison, D. & Waluszewski, A. (2022). Shaping Sustainable Business Markets: Reducing Use of Antibiotics in Pig Meat Production. Paper accepted for the IMP Asia Conference, Okinawa, Japan, December 4-7, 2022.

Munksgaard, K. B. (2019). Business interests shaping networking boundaries: the case of reducing use of antibiotics in Danish pig production. The 35th IMP Conference 2019, IÉSEG Paris, France.

Waluszewski, A. (2019). Antibiotic resistance and the animal-based food industry – Antibiotics as a value adding resource in three interdependent industrial settings. The 35th IMP Conference 2019, IÉSEG Paris, France.

Waluszewski, A. (2020). Matproduktion med eller utan antibiotika: Om en systeminnovation. In Humanimalt: Oss djur emellan i medicin och samhälle förr och nu (1st ed., pp. 127–135).

Waluszewski, A., Harrison, D., Halinen, A., & Munksgaard, K. B. (2020). The “what’s” and “how’s” of some Nordic system innovations: compensating for routine group input of antibiotics in animal-based food production. The 36th IMP Conference, Örebro, Sweden.

Waluszewski, A., Cinti, A. & Perna, A. (2021). Antibiotics in pig meat production: restrictions as the odd case and overuse as normality? Experiences from Sweden and Italy. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 8, 172.

Waluszewski, A. (2019). More research? Or more use of research and practical experiences? On a system innovation compensating for (over) use of antibiotics in Swedish pig meat production. In ‘Animal husbandry in 20th Century Europe: Policies, trade, animal and public health, breeding and production systems’, SLU June 26-28 2019.

Waluszewski, A., Cinti, A., Perna, A. (2022). Food industry, policy and the use of antibiotics for animals. The Italian or Swedish way? Proceedings of the 38th IMP Conference, Florence. September 1-3 2022.

Waluszewski, A., (2022). More research? Or more use of research and practical experiences? On a system innovation compensating for regular use of antibiotics in Swedish pig meat production. Forthcoming. From Breeding & Feeding to Medicalization. Animal farming, veterinarization and consumers in the 20th c. Western Europe. Laurent Herment, Carin Martiin, Lourenzo Prieto and Daniel Lanero. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers.

Dissemination

Insights from project workshop have been disseminated in talks, presentations, and the media.

Munksgaard K. B. (2019). Barrierer og motivationer for bæredygtig forretning (Barriers and motivations for sustainable business). Presentation at SDU First Mover Meetings, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Entrepreneurship and Relationship Management, 2019-11-22.

Munksgaard K. B. (2019). En bæredygtig forretning? (How to build a sustainable business). Presentation at Presidents Institute, Denmark, 2019-11-18.

Munksgaard K. B. (2019). Forretningsgørelse af Fødevarespild (Making business from food waste). Presentation at Agro Food Park, Danmark, 2019-08-27.

Munksgaard, K. B. (2022). Follow the Pig. Keynote at 26th Nordic Workshop on Interorganizational Research, April 22. – 24. 2022, SDU Kolding, Denmark.

Waluszewski, A. (2018). Antibiotika och resistens: vetenskap, media, mat och handel. Presentation vid Kungliga Vetenskapssamhället i Uppsala, 2018-03-05.

Waluszewski, A. (2019). Antibiotika till djur är den största faran. Svenska Dagbladet. Publiced in Svenska Dagbladet 2019-07-14.

Waluszewski, A. (2019). Att hänvisa till ‘EU:s ledarskap’ är en grov förenkling. Publiced in Dagens Nyheter 2019-05-20.

Waluszewski, A. (2019). Health innovation – the impact from economic resources in place. Seminar at a master course in Innovation Management, arranged at Uppsala University, 2019-03-20.

Waluszewski, A. (2019). More research? Or more use of research and practical experiences? On a system innovation compensating for (over)use of antibiotics in Swedish pig meat production. Presented at the workshop: Animal husbandry in 20th Century Europe: Policies, trade, animal and public health, breeding and production systems, University of Agriculture, Uppsala, Sweden, 2019-06-27.

Waluszewski, A. (2020). Den billiga produktionen kan ha ett högt pris. Göteborgsposten, 2020. No 5 maj.

Waluszewski, A. (2021). Antibiotics & Animals. Interviewed in the AMR studio, UAC, Uppsala Antibiotic Centre, 2021-10-13.

Waluszewski, A. (2021). Antibiotics and pig meat production: restrictions as the odd case and overuse as normality? Experiences from Sweden and Italy. Presentation at the STS seminar, Uppsala Science & Technology Studies Centre, Uppsala University, 2021-11-30.

Waluszewski, A. (2021). Antibiotika - i tjänst och otjänst hos djur och människor. Presentation arrangerad av Senioruniversitet, Uppsala. 2021-03-09.

Waluszewski, A. (2021). Antibiotika för djur – välsignelse eller vansinne? Presentation arrangerad av Alma Löv Museum of Unexpected Art, Sunne 2021-11-21.

Waluszewski, A. (2022). Combatting overuse of antibiotics - but what’s included in the plead for ‘new economic models’? Presentation at a one-day seminar at BI, Norwegian Business School, Oslo 2022-08-23.

Waluszewski, A. (2022). Den tysta pandemin pågår ständigt. Göteborgsposten, 2022. No 8 feb.

Waluszewski, A. (2022). Under the same EU regulation – but why is restricted use of antibiotics for food animals is still a rare case? Presentation at a seminar at UAC, Uppsala Antibiotic Centre, Uppsala University, 2022-03-06.

Last Updated 18.06.2024