"The fact that the use of antibiotics has been halved in 10 years has not deteriorated the competitive position of pig farming," concludes the report 'Economics of the use of antibiotics on Dutch farms' from Wageningen University.
The report, which was commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, compares the development of the Dutch cost price in pig and poultry farming between 2009 and 2017 with that abroad. For the pig sector, production costs were compared with 3 European competitors: Denmark (low antibiotic use), Germany (main export market) and Spain (high antibiotic use).
Rising costs
The results of this comparison show that the average costs of pig production in the Netherlands have risen sharply compared to other countries. Since 2013, the competitive position of Dutch pig farming has deteriorated, but the researchers have found no evidence that there is a relationship with the reduction in antibiotic use. According to the researchers, other causes are the reason for the decline in competitiveness, such as the lack of technical results. The increased manure disposal costs are not mentioned.
Germany and Denmark have by far the highest cost price and Spain currently realizes the lowest cost price. The Dutch cost price is on average a penny higher than the Spanish price. In 2017, the Netherlands was able to compete with the Spanish cost price (per kilo of pork). Feed costs are leading in the cost price calculation. This is therefore the main explanation for the differences.
Fear of negativity
According to Wageningen University, stakeholders feared that reducing antibiotic use in livestock farming would have a negative effect on the productivity and economic results of livestock farms. The conclusion of the study refutes these fears.
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