While we would prefer to exchange a cookbook, workshop, cowhide or something else we’ve grown or made, we need to raise around $150,000 for the abattoir project, so are accepting donations as well. The abattoir will serve several local farms, and operate as a solidarity economy on degrowth principles. What that means is that fees will be set to cover costs of operation (energy, compliance, consumables, etc) and ensure all meatsmith workers earn a decent livelihood. Critically, no surplus value will be extracted from the system - there are no ‘investors’ and no financial returns beyond the wages earned by those of us doing the labour.

We have always freely shared what we learn, and will continue to do so, including making available our successful development applications for both the pig farm and the abattoir, with associated materials such as our environmental management Plan (EMP). These documents took a lot of time and knowledge, and some call this Intellectual Property - IP - but we think protecting that from others’ use is basically theft, except in the case of Indigenous Peoples protecting their traditional and cultural knowledge and genetic resources from exploitation by colonial capitalist powers. Providing financial support for us to build the Jonai Meatsmith Collective supports our efforts to radically transform the food system from the ground up.

Imagine if our communities all around Australia and the world pooled our resources in this way to reclaim control of the means of production, and the means of communication, energy, transport – the sky’s the limit!