ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. One Health
This article is part of the Research TopicAntimicrobial Resistance in Dairy and Poultry Production: Challenges and SolutionsView all 4 articles
Unlocking Farm-Level Antimicrobial Resistance: A Qualitative Study of Researchers' Experiences and Challenges
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Department of Pathobiology, Urbana, United States
- 2University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Carl R Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, Urbana, United States
- 3University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Information Sciences, Champaign, United States
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Despite the strong advocacy for innovation in livestock antimicrobial resistance research, a significant knowledge gap exists regarding the social components of livestock AMR research, especially as it concerns researchers. Prior studies have shown a negative perception among farm stakeholders toward antimicrobial resistance research on farms, reducing the effectiveness of such research. Furthermore, the encounters of researchers working on antimicrobial resistance in livestock settings remain underreported. This study aims to understand the experiences of researchers who conduct antimicrobial resistance research using livestock data to identify the social and technical barriers for researchers and highlight improvement opportunities. We used a semi-structured interview format to collect information from forty-eight (48) researchers who had experience conducting antimicrobial resistance research on US farms. Three themes captured scenarios contributing to the existing limitations around antimicrobial resistance data generated from farm settings: Navigating Access And Relationships Impacts The Quality Of The Research; Despite Challenges, More Farm-Level AMR Data Is Needed Because It Includes Crucial Metadata; and Preserving Data Integrity Requires Data Sharing Protocols. A fourth theme, Researchers Want To Transform Data Into Impact, described researchers' common use of AMR data and their rationale for needed improved access. To achieve significant advancement in antimicrobial resistance in the near future, it is imperative to address the barriers that hinder access to and sharing of farm-level AMR data through development of policies and best practices.
Keywords: antimicrobial resistance, Data privacy, farm, Livestock, antibiotic resistance, Drug Resistance, Dashboard
Received: 27 Aug 2025; Accepted: 24 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Adegbole, Seilkhanova, Bajwa and Smith. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Charles Adegbole, caa7@illinois.edu
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