Big news for micro-abattoirs in Victoria
Friends, comrades and allies, we’re thrilled to (somewhat belatedly) share a win that was years in the making. In August, the Victorian Government finally reformed the planning scheme to make it possible for farms like ours to build farmer- and community-controlled micro-abattoirs on farm without the need for a planning permit.
These reforms are a crucial step toward rebuilding the intrinsic infrastructure of agroecology—the abattoirs, mills, and dairy processing facilities that will enable us to eat from our own regions again. They reflect the government’s growing awareness of the key differences between smallholders feeding locals and industrial titans feeding distant markets. The reforms recognise our long-repeated point that a micro-abattoir is an ancillary use in the agricultural zones – not a change of use.
For too long, the centralisation of meat processing into a handful of massive 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. With the Victorian reforms, that tide is turning.
It’s a victory for farmers, eaters, and allies across Victoria who have pushed, petitioned, submitted, and insisted that the right to kill and process animals locally is a matter of food sovereignty, animal welfare, and community resilience.
Check out the report I wrote to provide practical guidance on how to build your own micro-abattoir, published last month by AFSA!
The Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA) will continue pushing for these reforms to roll out across the other states and territories, so join us if you want to help with the struggle! You can keep up with the national campaign on the AFSA website.
The Meat Collective @ Jonai: slow and steady progress
Most of you know we’ve been working away on the Meat Collective @ Jonai—our micro-abattoir project—since long before any of these recent changes to legislation. The journey is slow (permits, fundraising, engineering headaches—oh my), but we’re making steady progress.
To date we have raised and spent around $185k on the project.Together with comrades and allies from across our region, Australia, and even internationally, we are laying the groundwork for debt-free, farmer-led infrastructure that will serve not just Jonai, but our whole community.
And this is where we have to pause and give a massive shout-out to Stuart. His hard work, perseverance, and bloody-minded problem-solving keep this project alive. Whether it’s salvaging the right materials, talking through and constructing best practice lairage for animal welfare, or sketching new layouts after the fiftieth design hurdle, Stuart keeps showing us what persistence looks like in practice. This abattoir will stand as a credit to his ingenuity and stamina, supported by the collective effort around him.
What’s next?
We will continue working through the final stages of the build, with reasonable hopes of completion before xmas.
We have sold nearly 1,000 cookbooks to date, with another 1,000 for sale at the farm gate or to be shipped directly to you, all proceeds are helping us fund the abattoir build. Have you got your copy yet? Full of uncommonly delicious dishes served with a side of food politics, Eat Like the Jonai is really a food sovereignty warrior’s handbook disguised as a cookbook.
And we’ll keep you updated every step of the way, because this is not just the Jonai micro-abattoir—it’s the future of small-scale farmers and the communities we feed everywhere.