How can livestock be fed more healthily and sustainably? TwentyGreen, a company in Lucerne’s Technopark, has developed a “probiotic” that can be mixed into animal feed in powder form to enable animals to utilise their feed better. Farmers need less feed for their livestock thanks to the supplement. The fact that fewer antibiotics are needed is an additional effect. Limiting antibiotic use in farm animals will help reduce antibiotic resistance.
According to the Center for Disease Control, one of the world’s most pressing public health concerns is antibiotic resistance. Specifically, 80 percent of antibiotics used worldwide are used in agriculture. This is a problem because excessive use of antibiotics makes bacteria resistant and destroys the healing effects of antibiotics. Resistant bacteria threaten both human and animal health. If major studies are to be believed, more people will be dying from antibiotic resistance than from cancer by the year 2050.
For its achievement, the Lucerne start-up won the 2017 ZKB TECHNOPARK® Pioneer Award, worth just under 100,000 Swiss francs, one of the most important innovation prizes for young companies in Switzerland.
