Biosecurity and food security: spatial strategies for combating bovine tuberculosis in the UK

Abstract

Concern over the spread of infectious animal diseases has led to attempts to improve the biosecurity behaviour of farmers. Implicit within these behavioural change strategies are different geographies of knowledge that enact different versions of disease. Some versions are fixed whilst others attempt to live with disease by accommodating difference. This paper explores how these different strategies fare in attempts to promote biosecurity to farmers. The paper compares farmers' responses to 'high-risk' and 'population' strategies of biosecurity behaviour change in relation to bovine tuberculosis in cattle. Drawing on quantitative assessments of biosecurity and farmer interviews, the paper suggests that biosecurity behaviour change initiatives that draw on locally situated practices and knowledges of disease are more likely to have an impact on biosecurity behaviour than those which attempt to standardise biosecurity and disease. Through a process of constant tinkering and rewiring biosecurity to fit local social and ecological conditions, approaches like the high-risk strategy represent one way of living with the uncertainties of disease. It is argued that thinking more broadly about the nature of disease should lead policymakers to re-evaluate the purpose of disease control and their approaches to it. KEY WORDS: biosecurity, animal disease, geographies of knowledge, behaviour change, bovine tuberculosis bs_bs_banner

Assessing the impact of tailored biosecurity advice on farmer behaviour and pathogen presence in beef herds in England and Wales

“…It is recognised that farmers are more likely to follow 257 advice that is specifically tailored to their situation and received from someone who understands their 258 situation (Enticott et al, 2012), and more likely to change behaviour through dialogue than instruction 259 (Duval et al, 2016). Performing both the data collection and the intervention through the farmers'regular veterinarians was therefore necessary and integral to the participatory nature of the study 261 design, allowing assessment of what would be the gold-standard setting for such an intervention.…”

“…Even then, many 57 other factors, such as personality, experience, education (Racicot et al, 2012), perceptions, 58 knowledge and attitudes (Toma et al, 2013;Toma et al, 2015) all play a role in determining the likely 59 uptake of advice by farmers. Advice is more likely to be followed if it is tailored to farmers' individualcontexts and characteristics rather than generic (Enticott et al, 2012;Jensen et al, 2016), and 61 negotiated directly with them through a participatory approach (Enticott et al, 2012;Gosling et al, 62 2014; Duval et al, 2016) with veterinarians seen as valuable interpreters of generic advice (Garforth, 63 2015). Farm veterinarians, because of their knowledge of pathogens and disease as well as of the 64 specific characteristics and circumstances of individual farms and farmers, should therefore be ideally 65 positioned to advise effectively on individually-tailored biosecurity strategies.…”

Farm characteristics and farmer perceptions associated with bovine tuberculosis incidents in areas of emerging endemic spread

“…Farmers appear reluctant to trust advice on preventive cattle measures, and are more likely to implement badger biosecurity after they experience a bTB incident. This suggests that efforts to advise farmers on bTB preventive measures need to focus on farmers without bTB or that alternative methods of engaging with farmers who have recently had an incident may need to be developed (Enticott, Franklin et al 2012). However, the lack of trust farmers place in such advice may require alternative routes to those currently being used.…”

Framing the agricultural use of antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance in UK national newspapers and the farming press

“…Given this history it might be anticipated that antibiotics would have been a technology subject to one of these forms of analysis. Second, biosecurity has become a central concept within rural animal studies (Donaldson, 2008;Donaldson et al, 2004;Enticott, 2008a;Enticott and Franklin, 2009;Enticott et al, 2012;Ilbery, 2012;Mather and Marshall, 2011;). Arguably, antibiotics constitute an important technology in the 'securing of life ' (Hinchcliffe and Bingham, 2008) in animal agriculture and yet their role within this process has been ignored.…”