Summary
Agrochemicals and antibiotics play a vital role in boosting land productivity and controlling pest and disease outbreaks in the agricultural, forestry, livestock, and aquaculture sectors. In farming, ensuring that fertilizers are applied to farm soils at optimum levels is critical as overapplication can lead to severe water pollution while underapplication can impact soil quality and reduce farm productivity. In livestock and aquaculture, while antibiotics are critical for keeping infections from spreading, the use of antibiotics for non-therapeutic applications is increasing. Overuse and improper application of these drugs increase the resistance of bacteria to antibiotics, leading to the development of dangerously resilient strains of bacteria that cannot be controlled with pharmaceuticals.
To address these issues, many market-based sustainability approaches such as voluntary sustainability standards (VSS), sustainable sourcing codes, and public sustainability standards, include criteria for practices that control agrochemical use, promote soil health, and prohibit the use of non-therapeutic antibiotics. What do we know about how impactful these tools and approaches are? This webinar presents results from an Evidensia systematic review on the topic. We also hear from a range of practitioners working to address agrochemical and antibiotic use through specific sustainability strategies and tools.