Join us to:

learn the results of a community-led survey conducted in this region with farmers, butchers and other stake holders concerned about diminishing access to local abattoir facilities,
hear from advocates working to bring about the necessary changes to correct this situation,
Key Goal of the session: form working groups for implementing the next steps

Speakers

Josh Wellman from Wellco Advisory and Managing Director of Banyula Farms. He is a landscape regeneration practitioner, educator and advisor and cattle farmer. Josh is the author of the survey that has been distributed to stakeholders and will be presenting the results of the survey.
Laticia Braving is the Founder of Vitality Farms Northern Rivers. Laticia is dedicated to amplifying the voices of the inspiring diversity of skilled and inspiring growers from this region and seeks to help regional producers, leaders and organisations build resilient businesses and communities.
Sally Cusack is a Co-Founder of Relocalise Northern Rivers and the convenor of this year's Food Forever events, which were co-hosted with Local Futures. Sally is passionate about the importance of building local food systems as foundational for achieving regional prosperity (socially, environmentally, economically) generally.
We will also have other advocates industry representatives present to provide further updates.

Background

Livestock producers who sell direct to local butchers or end consumers across Australia are steadily losing access to abattoirs. Economic and policy pressures are directing these services toward providing for large scale producers only, leaving small scale producers with diminishing options.

Specifically for this region, the closest chicken processing facility is down in Maclean and cattle farmers are likely to lose access to the abattoir in Casino within 18 months.

An important research project released earlier this year outlines the urgency of the work required and the path forward for enabling small producers to continue providing for their local communities.

The solution lies in re-establishing the network of micro abattoirs of times gone by. There are, however, obstacles such as the NSW food safety regulations, funding for new infrastructure and finding a trained workforce.

Thankfully there are trailblazers from elsewhere in the country, including at the the Agroecology and Food Sovereignty Alliance in Victoria and advocates in New South Wales that we can join forces with to bring about the necessary changes to secure our access to the premium meat that is grown in this region.

Contact the host of Public Meeting: Securing the Premium Meat Supply Chain for the Northern Rivers

There were 0 errors found in the information you submitted: