Farmers in the United States used 16 per cent more antibiotics in 2024 than the previous year, reported the United States Food and Drug Administration.
That was a big change from the previous decade during which sales mostly held steady or declined.
The increase is worrisome because widespread use of antibiotics paves the way for bacteria resistant to antibiotics to multiply. That renders them useless in treating human infections and bacterial diseases.
Tetracyclines accounted for 69 per cent of all medically important drugs sold and their sales increased by 20 per cent in 2024 from the previous year.
Sales of Aminoglycoside increased by 37 per cent, lincosamides by 11 per cent and macrolides by one per cent. Penicillin sales declined 14 per cent.
Hog producers bought 43 per cent of the antibiotics sold in 2024, dairy and beef producers, 41 per cent, turkey producers four per cent and chicken producers oner per cent.
Cattle accounted for most cephalosporin, aminoglycoside, tetracycline and sulfonamide sales, while swine represented the majority of lincosamide and macrolide use. Most penicillins were sold for turkeys.
Steven Roach, director of the Safe and Healthy Food Program at Food Animal Concerns Trust, said increases were seen across most drug classes and species, with particularly sharp growth in poultry. He attributed the trend to a lack of firm reduction targets and continued antibiotic use without confirmed bacterial infections.
