Fragility to Resilience: Local meat processing in Australia at a crossroads
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System planning and design
Engagement and co-design
Service redesign and integration
Monitoring and evaluation
Producers
70 university
operational
leaders ACROSS
Businesses viability and revenue at risk
For many, losing local processing access undermines the viability of their entire business. Producers frequently reported stress and anxiety linked to income loss and uncertainty about the future.
Australia
New Zealand
UK
Canada
IRELAND
Get the latest insighst from our University COO Survey report.
Report Authors and Contributors
Australia’s small and medium (SME) livestock producers are losing access to local meat processing — and the consequences extend far beyond individual farms.
Carlos Blanco
principal,
NOUS GROUP
carlos.blanco@nousgroup.com
Fragility to Resilience: Local meat processing in Australia at a crossroads
Get the latest insighst from our University COO Survey report.
Download Summary Report
Download Summary Report
INTRODUCTION
Polina Silakova
Manager,
Nous Group
polina.silakova@nousgroup.com
Charlie Whatmore
Consultant, NOUS GROUP
Adelaide Pilt
CONSULTANT, NOUS GROUP
The system did not arrive at this point by chance. A set of interconnected forces has progressively reduced access to local processing, including service kill. Left unchecked, more producers will be forced to exit local supply chains and processing capacity will continue to concentrate.
THERE IS A PATH FORWARD, IF WE ACT NOW
in annual revenue is at risk among SME cattle producers when survey results are scaled nationally.
Nous Group research into why declining access to local processing for small and medium‑sized livestock producers is becoming a national resilience issue, affecting livelihoods, regional economies and food system diversity
“When I started in this role, I thought it was to just keep the ops running, which was a naïve view of the COO role, perhaps when times are good that’s the focus – spend well on the new things… But when revenue takes a massive one-off hit, when the upswell of negative public sentiment towards universities continues, there is a heightened risk for the COO in terms of personal and legislated responsibilities.”
COO of a UK university
Working as a sector
Collaboration between institutions is becoming increasingly important, though there are significant cultural and operational barriers to overcome. More professional services leaders highlight the value of working together to reduce costs – for example through collaborative procurement and shared services – and working as a sector to advocate to government and communicate universities’ value to the public. Mergers are increasingly a realistic prospect.
Throughout the interviews we conducted for this study, we found a greater willingness or appetite among professional services leaders to consider greater institutional integration in the future. However, interviewees noted that there are significant cultural and operational barriers to overcome.
“[I]f we want to thrive, we need to work out what shared services and infrastructure looks like. We have got to crack that and break down some of the barriers. For me that would be a real game changer.”
COO of an Australian university
Theme 2
A broader efficiency remit
Managing the cost base is a critical short-term priority for many professional services leaders. Doing this without compromising on an institution’s academic and social mission is no mean feat. While universities are showing a greater propensity to find efficiencies across corporate, support, and administrative services, financial difficulties mean that areas that have traditionally been immune from cost cutting are increasingly under review. This is reflected in the fact that universities are increasingly looking at academic delivery as a site where they might pursue efficiencies. This has historically been an anathema to many universities, especially in Canada and the UK.
Theme 3
There is a shift away from expanding international enrolments, towards removing low margin programs
Collaboration as default
Cross-portfolio collaboration is essential in a cost-constrained environment. Bridging the divide between academic and professional services has become an even higher priority, as professional services leaders struggle to align financial priorities with academic expectations and institutional objectives. Cultivating the culture required to collaborate, effective change management, and active co-leadership will all be necessary to land transformational, institution-wide reforms.
Theme 4
“Institutions are used to moving slowly, slow to adapt, slow to adopt … [especially] … on the academic side where they have stopped looking on the outside on what innovation can be brought in. Our role in professional services is to move them along a little faster, keep them uncomfortable.”
VPFA of a Canadian university
“Academics recognise the need to be cost-restrained. Although they haven’t recognised that need fully and that they have a role to play in it… You need to be the “unreasonable COO”. This is helpful to the provost, who plays on the academic side, but behind the scenes, there is the management of expectations.”
COO of a UK university
“It is very important that the COO is to be seen as a partner to the academic leadership… I can’t be enforcing recruitment freezes unless it is absolutely supported from the academic part of the business. We were absolutely in lock step. That is critical to the success of the business.”
COO of an Australian university
Managing aging assets
Many universities are sitting on large, ageing, and often underutilised assets that are costly to maintain and no longer fit-for-purpose, especially given modern teaching methods, hybrid work trends, and financial realities. Increasingly, universities need to choose between physical and digital environments. Professional services leaders have an important strategic role to play in managing and optimising university assets and facilities to reduce costs, improve sustainability, use space efficiently, and create additional revenue channels.
This can be a vexing issue. But it is nevertheless unsurprising that “Infrastructure leadership” remains a top priority for many professional services leaders, with most (53 per cent) rating it among their top three priorities.
Theme 5
From digital disappointments to AI adoption
Digital investments remain a significant priority for many institutions despite financial pressures. However, some universities are sceptical about their impact on efficiency and productivity. In this context, professional services leaders have an important role to play in championing and driving major digital investments so that they deliver their intended benefits. Given its enormous disruptive potential, AI presents a promising avenue for these efforts, though universities are at the early stages of unlocking the value that AI can bring.
Theme 6
“Digital transformation is moving so much faster than universities have ever been able to move. We need a model in place that allows us to be agile to be able to embrace that technology at speed. Our students are absorbing the changes that are occurring in this world faster than we are able to move. “
COO of an Australian university
SME producers make up most of Australia’s livestock sector, but their processing needs are diverse. For many, access to local processing is what enables regenerative practices, direct-to-market models and local supply chains to function and grow. That access is becoming increasingly fragile.
Producers are ready to act. Survey responses show strong appetite for new models that improve access to processing and give SMEs greater control, supported by emerging solutions such as local micro-processing, mobile abattoirs and producer aggregation.
Transforming Australia’s meat processing landscape will require urgent, coordinated action. The blueprint is clear: empower producers and enable new models to thrive while stabilising existing local capacity.
Whether you are part of government, industry, investment, philanthropy, production or simply care about where your food comes from, this report sets out the role you can play.
The window for action is narrowing. Now is the time to act.
charlie.whatmore@nousgroup.com
adelaide.pilt@nousgroup.com
In 2025, Nous Group undertook a national program of research to understand the state of abattoir access across Australia, with a focus on the challenges facing small and medium-sized producers. The research draws on a national survey of more than 450 producers and over 20 processors, alongside interviews, focus groups and analysis of existing data across the system.
The research builds on prior work by organisations including the Agroecology and Food Sovereignty Alliance and Sprout Tasmania and was guided by an expert project Working Group and advisor Dr Tammi Jonas. The research was commissioned by the Macdoch Foundation.
Empower producers and enable innovation in small-scale processing
Address regulatory and workforce constraints
Improve processor economics to support SME access
54%
of universities have reduced capital investments over the last 12 months
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Producers
Businesses viability and revenue at risk
Regional economies
Regional jobs and businesses under pressure
WHAT IS AT STAKE
As access shrinks, impacts ripple across the system well beyond the farm-gate. These impacts reinforce one another, increasing the risk of accelerating system fragility. Click on the tiles for more details.
Service kill access underpins viable regional food systems.
Consumers
Higher costs and less choice
Animal welfare
Higher risks to animal welfare and meat quality
Regional food systems
Less diverse and more fragile regional food systems
Nature
Nature-friendly agriculture slowed
$564–$742 million
An estimated
Regional jobs and businesses under pressure
Reduced access to local processing also slows the spread of regeneratesive agriculture, often led by SME producers, delaying progress towards nature-positive farming systems.
“When I started in this role, I thought it was to just keep the ops running, which was a naïve view of the COO role, perhaps when times are good that’s the focus – spend well on the new things… But when revenue takes a massive one-off hit, when the upswell of negative public sentiment towards universities continues, there is a heightened risk for the COO in terms of personal and legislated responsibilities.”
COO of a UK university
regional economies
One quater expect partner businesses, including butchers, retailers, food services and transport providers to experience supply or cost pressures.
expect job losses in the livestock production supply chain, weakening regional economies.
14%
Less diverse and more fragile regional food systems
“When I started in this role, I thought it was to just keep the ops running, which was a naïve view of the COO role, perhaps when times are good that’s the focus – spend well on the new things… But when revenue takes a massive one-off hit, when the upswell of negative public sentiment towards universities continues, there is a heightened risk for the COO in terms of personal and legislated responsibilities.”
COO of a UK university
Processing concentration increases exposure to plant closures, labour shortages and transport disruptions.
With fewer local alternatives, producers and communities have limited ability to adapt to shocks.
Regional food systems
Over time, this reduces regional food security and system resilience.
Higher costs and less choice
“When I started in this role, I thought it was to just keep the ops running, which was a naïve view of the COO role, perhaps when times are good that’s the focus – spend well on the new things… But when revenue takes a massive one-off hit, when the upswell of negative public sentiment towards universities continues, there is a heightened risk for the COO in terms of personal and legislated responsibilities.”
COO of a UK university
of producers surveyed expect local access to fresh, diverse meat to decline.
Longer transport distances increase costs across the supply chain, contributing to cost-of-living pressures.
Extended transport times can also reduce meat quality and availability, particularly of grass-fed meat products.
Consumers
46%
Shift consumer demand to embed resilience in local food systems
But this trajectory can be changed. The report identifies four priority areas for action that target pressure points where intervention can restore resilience:
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3
4
Download full report
Download executive summary report
Download the SME livestock producer survey results
Alex Bainton
Manager,
NOUS GROUP
alex.bainton@nousgroup.com
Rex Parsons
Senior Data Scientist,
Nous Group
rex.parsons@nousgroup.com
Reach out to a member of the team to discuss the report findings and the blueprint for action.
The situation is devastating. We cannot run the business as we once did because of the lack of processing.
Improved access to service kills would lead to flexible, high-quality meat production in the local area, lower food miles, less time wasted and lower costs. More time to do what we are good at: farming and improving soils.
Access to service kill processing would unlock a whole new range of products that our customers so desperately want.
The surveyed producers are saying...
full report
executive summary report
PRODUCER SURVEY RESULTS
Download now!
Higher risks to animal welfare and meat quality
“When I started in this role, I thought it was to just keep the ops running, which was a naïve view of the COO role, perhaps when times are good that’s the focus – spend well on the new things… But when revenue takes a massive one-off hit, when the upswell of negative public sentiment towards universities continues, there is a heightened risk for the COO in terms of personal and legislated responsibilities.”
COO of a UK university
Producers surveyed expect negative impacts on animal welfare if access continues to decline.
Longer journeys increase animal stress and increase biosecurity risks.
LONGER JOURNEYS INCREASE ANIMAL STRESS, CREATE NEGATIVE IMPACTS ON MEAT QUALITY AND HEIGHTEN BIOSECURITY RISKS.
Animal welfare
45%
Nature-friendly agriculture slowed
“When I started in this role, I thought it was to just keep the ops running, which was a naïve view of the COO role, perhaps when times are good that’s the focus – spend well on the new things… But when revenue takes a massive one-off hit, when the upswell of negative public sentiment towards universities continues, there is a heightened risk for the COO in terms of personal and legislated responsibilities.”
COO of a UK university
Longer transport routes increase emissions and air pollution.
Delays in finishing animals can lead to overgrazing, degrading land over time.
NATURE
full report
executive summary report
Download now!
PRODUCER SURVEY RESULTS
Report Authors and Contributors
An estimated $564–$742 million in annual revenue is at risk among SME cattle producers when survey results are scaled nationally. For many, losing local processing access undermines the viability of their entire business. Producers frequently reported stress and anxiety linked to income loss and uncertainty about the future.
Impacts extend beyond farms to their surrounding community. One quarter of survey respondents expect partner businesses, including butchers, retailers, food services and transport providers to experience supply or cost pressures. Fourteen per cent expect job losses in the livestock production supply chain, weakening regional economies.
Processing concentration increases exposure to plant closures, labour shortages and transport disruptions. With fewer local alternatives, producers and communities have limited ability to adapt to shocks. Over time, this reduces regional food security and system resilience.
Consumers
Almost 46 per cent of producers surveyed expect local access to fresh, diverse meat to decline. Longer transport distances increase costs across the supply chain, contributing to cost-of-living pressures.
Extended transport times can also reduce meat quality and availability, particularly of grass-fed meat products.
Higher costs and less choice
Animal welfare
Nearly 45 per cent of producers surveyed expect negative impacts on animal welfare if access continues to decline. Longer journeys increase animal stress, create negative impacts on meat quality and nutritional outcomes and heighten biosecurity risks.
Higher risks to animal welfare and meat quality
Nature
Longer transport routes increase emissions and air pollution. Delays in finishing animals can lead to overgrazing , degrading land over time. Reduced access to local processing also slows the spread of regenerative agriculture, often led by SME producers, delaying progress towards nature‑positive farming systems.
Nature-friendly agriculture slowed
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Two-thirds of producers say their current processor does not meet their needs, and nearly one in ten reports having no access at all.
As abattoirs close, consolidate or move away from service kill arrangements, many paddock-to-plate and provenance-based businesses are becoming harder to sustain. Reduced access to local processing is increasing pressure on producer viability and creating cascading consequences for regional jobs, food system diversity, animal welfare and consumer choice.