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What we consume can alternatively nourish us or make us ill. Not long ago, I wrote about how dietary habits impacts the likelihood of colorectal cancer. But what about agricultural practices?

Worldwide, we are observing the expansion of cheap meat, largely driven by consumer desire from a growing affluent population that now has the means to purchase poultry and red meat, items that were previously unaffordable. Roughly 45% of global consumption growth is taking place in upper-middle-income countries such as China, India, Brazil, Indonesia and the Philippines. Chicken is set to take an increasingly large share of that expansion, projected to grow by 21% by 2034, since it is relatively cheap, widely acceptable and requires less input per kilogram compared with beef or pork. By 2034, it is estimated that poultry will provide 45% of the dietary protein consumed from animal-based foods.

But this has consequences. With limited land and tight schedules, the solution in numerous nations has been to employ antimicrobials extensively. This is not only to address disease but additionally as a prophylactic to prevent disease in crowded conditions. Furthermore, giving antibiotics makes farm animals to gain weight more rapidly, although scientists aren’t sure exactly why. All of this means that, unlike their application in people—where antimicrobials are almost always given to combat infection—their application in agriculture is much more widespread and uncontrolled. Research monitoring their consumption estimate that 73% of all antimicrobials sold worldwide are used in animals raised for food.

This massive misuse is causing a rise in drug-resistant bacteria. For example, colistin resistance, a final-line treatment, initially emerged in E coli bacteria that subsequently contaminated swine. E coli was afterwards detected in pig farmers. Only required are air travel and international transport for these microbes to spread globally. Currently, colistin-resistant bacteria have been identified not only in medical facilities in China but around the globe.

How does this impact for an individual waiting in a GP clinic or a hospital in England or Scotland? It means that bacterial illnesses that were once easily treatable—such as otitis, UTIs or surgical site infections—become untreatable even after a dose of antibiotics. It implies that surgeries such as C-sections, hip replacements and cancer therapies that depend on immunosuppression all become riskier. And while novel antimicrobials are technically possible to create, the development process is lengthy and costly. We must preserve the tools we have.

The solutions to this issue can exclusively come from changing worldwide agriculture. To be fair, the United Kingdom has made significant progress in curtailing antimicrobial use in livestock. Sales of antibiotics for animals destined for consumption has dropped by 59% over the past decade. The use of colistin is now virtually nonexistent. The use of critically important antibiotics has fallen to under 0.5% of all veterinary antimicrobial distribution. Moreover, studies by European agencies suggested that after antibiotic use in agriculture was reduced by almost 50% between 2014 and 2021, antibiotic resistance in E coli throughout Europe also started dropping.

However just focusing on the UK or EU is a drop in the bucket. If the large middle-income countries are part of the conversation on how meat is farmed, we continue to be just as susceptible to drug-resistant infections. The challenge is that adopting alternative farming methods takes additional land and time: increasing the cost of animal protein in highly populated nations can quickly trigger social unrest, governmental opposition and discontent. The medical necessity is evident, but this needs to be balanced with concerns over nutritional access, economics and public demand.

Environmental researchers have repeatedly cautioned about the environmental costs of the present worldwide agricultural model, whether it’s greenhouse gases, species decline, or deforestation. But these effects often feel long-term and theoretical, particularly for individuals struggling with cost-of-living pressures or worried about short-term medical services.

Antimicrobial resistance is tangible. Virtually all people has used antimicrobials at one time or another, and we can envision what would happen if their infection-clearing effect was abruptly lost. Agriculture, medicine and climate are all interlinked. How pork is produced in China influences whether your offspring’s medication work in Edinburgh. Whether a female patient in Lagos recovers from a C-section is linked to how chickens are raised in Brazil.

If we confront these pervasive, global issues, such as how our diet is sourced and how we use our existing drugs, we endanger something precious: the capacity to cure bacterial diseases that we take for granted today.