No smaller, local abattoirs means no local, traceable meat.
Over the past decade a third of the UK's small, local abattoirs have closed. The reasons for the continuing closures include the disproportionately high burden of regulation imposed on small abattoirs, falling cattle numbers nationally and the currently very low and often negative profitability of the sector due to the increasing dominance of supermarkets.
At a time when demand for sustainable, traceable, local food is on the rise, and issues of welfare and health are at the forefront of many consumers’ minds, the loss of more than a third of small abattoirs over the last decade alone is jeopardising the future of local food systems with integrity.
(You can read more about our two-decade-long fight for the survival of small abattoirs)
The Campaign for Local Abattoirs (CFLA) was established to help maintain and expand this network.
It consists of various organisations and individuals, of which Pipers Farm is one, who are gravely concerned about the escalating loss of local abattoirs, which leads to increased live transport of animals, a loss of local traceable meat, and a reduction of economic activity, particularly in rural areas.
The purpose of the Campaign For Local Abattoirs is to help ensure a sustainable future for a UK-wide network smaller local abattoirs, through lobbying the UK governments to take urgent action, and by working with the industry and governments to find longer-term solutions to the problems facing the sector, including enabling the establishment of mobile abattoirs for on-farm slaughter.
