Fragility to resilience: local meat processing in Australia at a crossroads
New Report
For nearly a decade AFSA has been advocating, lobbying and fighting for a more just, ethical and transparent meat processing system, that benefits farmers, eaters, animal and land.
Fragility to Resilience: Local meat processing in Australia at a crossroads, the new report commissioned by the Macdoch Foundation and realised by Nous Group with the contribution of AFSA’s expertise, depicts the current landscape of access to local meat processing for the small-to-medium livestock sector.
The report shows local meat processing in Australia at a crossroads, explaining why local processing for small and medium‑sized livestock producers is becoming a national resilience issue, that puts food sovereignty and food diversity on the line, affecting livelihoods and regional economies.
Growing demand for locally produced meat is not met by meat processing and service kills* regulations.
If left unaddressed, small and medium producers viability will become a national problem, putting hundreds of millions of dollars in local income and regional jobs at risk.
AFSA found that nationally, 80% of respondents have lost access to their abattoir in the past five years or are about to lose access. Agroecology-oriented, organic, and small-scale producers who want to independently own and control essential infrastructure are especially exposed.
Communities across the country are creating and demanding new models: mobile abattoirs, regional micro and co-operative facilities, on-farm micro processing, workforce-assisting technology pilots, processor-producer partnerships or aggregation services.
This system’s current fragility is the result of long-term trends, not short -term shocks. The forces limiting processing capacity and the emergence of new models include: the consolidation of export-oriented markets; ill-adapted regulations with one-size-fits-all rigid standards; workforce challenges with high turnover, limited training pathways and housing constraints; supermarket influence prioritising convenience and low-cost boxed cuts; and low public awareness.
These downward spirals can be reversed.
Communities across the country are creating and demanding new models: mobile abattoirs, regional micro and co-operative facilities, on-farm micro processing, workforce-assisting technology pilots, processor-producer partnerships or aggregation services.
AFSA and State-based allied organisations are lobbying for reforms to simplify this process.
Thanks to AFSA’s campaigning, in August 2025 the Victorian Government has reformed planning rules to make it possible for farms to build farmer- and community-controlled micro-abattoirs on-farm without the need for a planning permit. A crucial step toward rebuilding the essential infrastructure of agroecology.
The right to kill and process animals ethically and locally is a matter of food sovereignty, animal welfare, and community resilience.
Transforming Asutralia’s meat processing landscape requires urgent, coordinate action.
We need to empower producers and support small-scale processing innovations, address regulatory and workforce constraints, advocate for local production and change consumer and food culture.
For too long, the centralisation of meat processing into a handful of large facilities has stripped farmers of control over how our animals are killed, and steadily robbed communities of access to transparent, local, and accountable meat systems. Agroecology asserts the importance of economic diversification through farmer-owned or controlled intrinsic infrastructure, not to access commodity markets, but to enable sustainable food production to feed local communities, reducing emissions and strengthening resilience in the face of a rapidly changing climate.
The reform of Victorian regulations around micro-abattoirs has been an historic win, yet change needs to happen nationally.
The right to kill and process animals ethically and locally is a matter of food sovereignty, animal welfare, and community resilience.
AFSA’s Abattoir Reform Campaign continues across all states.
You can find resources and information on how to join AFSA in the transformation of our food system here.
*A ‘service kill’ is a fee-for-service model in which farmers retain ownership of the carcass after slaughter to sell the meat as they choose, as opposed to selling livestock to the abattoir for processing and sold by the processor.
