{
  "id": 5556779,
  "title": "Intensive farming may yield a bumper crop of drug-resistant pathogens",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/04/intensive-farming-may-yield-a-bumper-crop-of-drug-resistant-pathogens",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-04T12:00:41.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Anthropocene Magazine",
    "slug": "anthropocene-magazine",
    "url": "https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2026/09/intensive-farming-may-yield-a-bumper-crop-of-drug-resistant-pathogens/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A new study has revealed that intensive farming methods, particularly those common in the U.S. Corn Belt, may contribute to the spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research compared four farming techniques: high-intensity corn cropping with heavy tilling, synthetic fertilizers, and non-antibiotic biocides; two medium-intensity cropping schemes with reduced biocides and tilling, and use of cow manure; and low-intensity grazing rotated with no-till cover crops.\n\nThe study found that high-intensity farming produced soil microbiomes more likely to transmit antibiotic-resistant pathogens to humans compared to lower-intensity methods. Intensive farming, which includes heavy tilling, synthetic fertilizers, and biocides, tends to have lower bacterial diversity and thus provides a better environment for bacteria harboring antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) to survive and spread. Additionally, environmental stressors such as synthetic fertilizers, copper-containing biocides, and tilling in high-intensity fields favor bacteria with ARGs and MGEs.\n\nThe researchers estimated that the risk of transmission of pathogens acquiring ARGs and infecting humans is significantly higher in high-intensity fields than in medium-intensity fields. While intensive farming is already associated with high greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution, this study also highlights an additional, unrecognized cost: the facilitation of drug-resistant pathogen spread. The authors suggest that soil and crop management practices could be strategically leveraged to limit the spread of these dangerous pathogens.",
  "summary": "Researchers find that changing the use of tilling, fertilizers, and chemicals could reshape the microbiomes of farm soils—reducing the emergence of drug-resistant pathogens.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}