The Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA) is excited to announce the release of our new report: Reclaiming the Means of Meat Processing: Legal Reforms and Practical Steps to Building the Intrinsic Infrastructure of Agroecology.
This resource is the culmination of nearly a decade of advocacy work by AFSA farmers and allies, designed to support you, our members, in navigating the path toward building on-farm micro abattoirs.
As you know, access to service kills is rapidly declining across the country. AFSA’s recent national survey found that 80% of respondents have lost or are about to lose access to their nearest service kill abattoir. This threatens the viability of direct-to-community meat sales and the sovereignty of small-scale producers.
We commend the Victorian Government’s July 2025 reform removing the requirement for a planning permit for on-farm micro-abattoirs, a significant step towards recognising slaughter as an ancillary use intrinsic to livestock farming. This reform supports localised meat processing while maintaining rigorous environmental, food safety, and animal welfare standards, and we are endeavouring to ensure it contributes to further reform across all states and territories.
This two-part report first surveys the problem and advocates for state-based reforms, and then provides technical guidance on how to collectivise to build a micro-abattoir. It includes:
- Step-by-step practical guidance on micro-abattoir construction, licensing, and site selection;
- Governance models for community or co-operative builds;
- Funding pathways (grants, debt, shared equity, and community-supported models);
- Risk management strategies and lessons learned from micro abattoir projects;
- And a deep dive into the Jonai Farms & Meatsmiths micro abattoir case study and other local efforts.
We hope this document supports communities across what is now called Australia to establish their own on-farm micro abattoirs, pushing back against the trend of corporate consolidation of processing infrastructure.
To boost AFSA’s advocacy efforts and make visible the problem of access to abattoirs, we have made Part 1: Where have all the abattoirs gone and what can governments do about it? of the report public and available for download.
Please note: The full report including Part 2 is available for AFSA members only and is not to be shared externally. If you know someone who would benefit from this guidance, encourage them to join AFSA to access it. Once you have signed up for AFSA membership, please email us for access to the report (coordinator@afsa.org.au).
