PRESS RELEASE
November 2024
With the food system increasingly catering for large scale primary producers, more modestly sized local farms are facing challenges when it comes to finding a facility that can handle smaller batches. For consumers committed to buying healthy, local food this is a disappointing trend.
Owner of Forage Farms, Stuart Andrews says that the recent closure of their local abattoir has regrettably forced the regen farming operation to stop producing meat chickens.
“We are not the only ones that lose,” said Stuart. “Our loyal customers and people who care about eating quality, chemical-free, local food suffer too.”
Stuart says that the problem is nationwide and follows a trend that saw the American meat chicken industry tank during Covid because of the focus on giant processing facilities.
“In Australia the chicken meat industry is suffering the most because it is owned and run by a duopoly. On the flipside it also presents an opportunity for innovative businessperson interested in establishing a micro abattoir. There’s room in the system for one,” he said.
Without these abattoirs to serve communities of small to medium farmers there is less transparency about the provenance of your meat. The risk is that it leads to fewerregenerative farmers who are passionate about growing delicious food, repairing landscapes and fostering biodiversity.
The question is, ‘what can consumers do?’ Holding your meat retailers accountable by asking how and where the animals were killed and the number of steps in the supply chain is one strategy. Reward those who care and can provide you with substantiated information. Your purchases create demand which encourages production of the type of food you care about.
Forage Farms are grateful that they still have access to a local butchering service for their pigs and cattle – and no doubt their loyal customers are too.
