Abattoir issues threaten food sovereignty

Jeff Green | Jun 15, 2022

Becky Williams and Mark Mcgrady operate Maple Ridge Farms, just north of Sydenham. Maple Ridge is a diversified small farm, where growing crops and raising meat animals are all part of an integrated operation aimed at constantly improving the land and soil over time.

Providing fresh meat for local families has been an integral part of both their business and farming models, and the demand for their products has been healthy and growing. But the lack of reliable abattoir services has been a major issue for them.

“It gutted our whole business. It is so sad that we’ve gotten away from feeding communities. We have people relying on fresh, ethically raised beef and pork, and we can not provide it to them because we can’t get reliable access to abattoir services,” Becky Williams said.

Maple Ridge, along with other small, artisanal, Southeastern Ontario farms, had been looking forward to Thorpe Meats, an abattoir project devoted to their specific needs, which was slated to open in the fall of 2023, but with the project falling though last week because of a lack of financing, they have been forced to change their business model once again.

They had already pivoted to increasing the cut flower and honey business that they had developed, as well as the educational component of their business, as well as maintaining their cattle herd for its genetics for the time being, with the expectation of returning meat production when Thorpe Meats opened its doors.

Not only is the end of the project disappointing, it also leaves little hope of any improvement in the situation for years to come.

“It is disheartening for us. We sold off all of our Berkshire pigs, keeping only enough for our own family, as an interim measure, knowing that we could regenerate the herd when abattoir space was available, while keeping our Dexter Cattle for its genetics,” she said. “Now it looks like we will not be doing meat sales, except chickens. It is really sad. I hope there is some alternative, some other option.”

She said that her concerns go beyond Maple Ridge Farms own business, to the entire local farm community.

“It is really affecting the morale of a lot of farmers, and for those who would like to start farming, it sends a message that even though there are plenty of customers who want to support local farms, it is not going to be easy to get product to market.

The Rise Farm is a relatively new farm in the Piccadilly area on Oak Flats Road. Rob Winney posted about the end of the Thorpe Meats project on Instagram, outlining the amount of time and money that he, and his wife Sarah, spend getting their small animals to market.

“We currently use 4 different abattoirs, and about to add another one in July, bringing us to 5. The closest one is only for rabbits at just over an hour drive each way. The furthest is a bird only operation at just over 2 hours,” he said.

“We book lambs and goats a year in advance. We book chickens and turkeys when the date list for chicks comes out in late Jan, so starting 6-8 months in advance. We are fortunate now to be able to book our rabbits 2-3 weeks out as we use a federal rabbit only abattoir.”

The new abattoir would have been able take all of the Rise Farms production, as well doing custom cutting and labelling, making it cheaper and easier for them to sustain their farm.

Winney points out in his post that the mainstream alternative to small scale farming, is a massive meat industry, which is already well established in Canada.

“3 processing plants produce 95% of the beef that is sold in Canada and almost all of the beef that is exported. 3 plants,” he wrote.

Both The Rise Farm and Maple Ridge had had modify their business models because of the abattoir shortage, that is now unlikely to change any time soon. But they worry about the implications for the local food industry.

For Maple Ridge Farms, even though they have been able to keep their business successful by making changes on their farm, it is still a bitter pill to swallow.

“We are grateful to our loyal customers,” said Becky Williams. “They continue to support us. But they are definitely missing the meat. That’s why we started the farm in the first place.”