National Summit to Examine Policy, Education and Economics of Antimicrobial Stewardship

A national summit highlighting policy, education and economic issues surrounding the use of antibiotics in production agriculture will take place January 20-21, 2016, at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, 400 New Jersey Ave. NW, Washington, D.C

A collaboration of Farm Foundation, NFP, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), the Association of American Veterinary Medicine Colleges (AAVMC) and USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS), the summit will highlight the diverse issues involved in antimicrobial stewardship. The summit is an opportunity to advance the conversation on the industry’s adaptation to the changing landscape of antimicrobial drug use, and is especially relevant to livestock producers, feed suppliers, veterinarians, academics and government agency staff.

Those interested in attending the meeting should click here to register for free.

APLU and AAVMC convened a Task Force on Antibiotic Resistance in Production Agriculture to tackle antibiotic resistance in production agriculture. The Task Force recently released Addressing Antibiotic Resistance, a report exploring the nature and implications of the problem and educating producers, healthcare providers and the public about best practices. The report also detailed a comprehensive research and educational agenda along with plans on how the Task Force intends to implement it.

The summit will include a report of findings compiled by the Farm Foundation after conducting 12 workshops covering policies issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on use of antimicrobial drugs in food-producing animals. Those workshops were an opportunity for livestock producers, veterinarians and feed suppliers to broaden their understanding of the new policies. They also provided a forum for producers, veterinarians and feed suppliers to give feedback to FDA and USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on the management challenges of the policy implementation.

The antimicrobial stewardship summit sessions will focus on next steps for the sound use of antimicrobial drugs in food-producing animals, and explore how agriculture and animal health can be full partners with the human medical community in a fully integrated national action plan to reduce and mitigate antibiotic resistance. The basis of these discussions is Addressing Antibiotic Resistance, the report issued by the APLU-AAVMC Task Force.

ERS will lead sessions examining the economics of antibiotic use in U.S. livestock production, as well as the interaction of farming practices and the requirements of food marketers.

Featured speakers at the summit:

• Catherine Woteki, USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics;
• Bernadette Dunham, DVM, Ph.D., Director of FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM);
• William Flynn, DVM, Deputy Director of Science Policy at the CVM;
• Steve Solomon, MD, Global Public Health Consulting;
• Liz Wagstrom, DVM, National Pork Producers Council;
• Christine Hoang, DVM, MPH, CPH, American Veterinary Medical Association;
• Ashley Predith, Ph.D., President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology; and
• Livestock producers, feed suppliers, veterinarians and university leaders from across the nation.

The summit will begin at 1 p.m. on January 20, and continue through the afternoon of Jan. 21. Before the summit on the morning of January 20, there will be a Farm Foundation Forum on the topic of antibiotic use in humans and animals.

For more information, please contact Eddie Gouge, APLU’s Senior Associate Director of Federal Relations for Food and Agricultural Sciences, at 202-478-6028.