What We Said: The OFSO License-holders Report
On July 2nd 2025, the Government of Alberta announced that it was going to implement annual uninspected slaughter limits for the On-Farm Slaughter Operation licence program. Previously uncapped under OFSO, the proposed slaughter limit of 5,000lbs per year would have made the OFSO licence an unviable venture for many farmers who were using the program. OFSO licence-holders made this clear to the Government of Alberta, which paused the changes on July 8.
On August 25th, the Alberta Government opened a survey to get more feedback from OFSO licensees on the proposed changes. As OFSO licence-holders, we want to be heard, and to ensure that all of our concerns are addressed. We met at a virtual town hall meeting on October 1st to hear from other licence holders about how the OFSO program could work better for all of us. While we have all filled out the Alberta government’s survey, there are concerns amongst licence-holders that the survey did not ask all of the right questions, that our issues may not be captured in the government’s survey results, and that our feedback might be misrepresented in a generic ‘What We Heard’ Report on the OFSO Survey results.
This “What We Said” Report reflects the conversations and concerns expressed during the October 1st Townhall and fills in the gaps from the OFSO Survey, in order to help the Alberta Government better understand the concerns of OFSO licence-holders. It is also an invitation to connect with us in a more fulsome way, so that the Alberta Government can continue to support local farmers and food systems.
“We don’t know what the problem is that they are trying to address”
The new proposed limits to on-farm slaughter under the OFSO program will put an end to the businesses that farmers have built since the program started, and make on-farm slaughter into a dead-end. We are confused as to why the Ministry tried to implement such strict limits that it would put all of our investments into this program in jeopardy, by making it unfeasible for licence holders.
The government has pointed to an unspecified “growing number of complaints” of illegal, inhumane and improper actions. These claims have included “assessments [that] have revealed… some OFSOs routinely slaughtering large numbers of animals…” However, the solution that they have proposed—slashing the amount of per-farm slaughter allowed annually—does not actually try to rectify the problem that is being addressed, it just terminates the program by making the licence uneconomic.
There is a consensus that the problems around illegal meat sales and food safety issues that have surfaced in the media are mostly not caused by OFSO license-holders, but by black market operators. These problems existed before the creation of OFSO, and will become more common if the government makes the proposed changes to restrict the OFSO program. These changes to the program will affect the people who are taking safe slaughter and local meat supply seriously, while neglecting the actual roots of the problem.
“Okay, then charge me!”
And some farmers, who have followed the rules, done everything right, and made the program work for their farm, are facing an unjust collective punishment that made them angry enough to want to defy the newly proposed limits, just to force the government to justify those changes. If there are legitimate food safety or animal welfare concerns caused by OFSO license-holders, what are they? Farmers want to know what we are doing wrong on our farms that caused the government to decide to unilaterally discard the program, and the investments that we have made in our farms and communities.
“The rules led us to believe that we could rely on the On-Farm Slaughter program to support our farm business”
We need a predictable environment for investment. Alberta has shown leadership in encouraging on-farm diversification, particularly for farmers in remote rural regions. The decision to place a lower limit on slaughter, however, pulls the rug from under the farmers who made investments in good faith—investments in infrastructure, training, and new skills development, supporting their farm’s stable growth, and providing jobs and healthy, local food in their communities.
The new numbers also make it impossible to meet the OFSO program objectives—which included helping to feed our local communities, and growing local food production in the province. The Alberta government needs to honour their commitment made to OFSO farmers when they set up the program, and which the Premier reiterated in the Mandate Letter to the Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation on October 2, 2025. The OFSO program was pitched as a way to encourage farmers to engage in more local, direct market development, while taking pressure off of provincially-licensed slaughter plants, and providing alternatives in rural regions where farms had no access to slaughter facilities.
“We are in a crisis when it comes to butchering in Alberta!”
The alternative provided by the OFSO program helped to address the lack of access to abattoirs in Alberta—and that problem is getting worse. A few farmers noted the closure of the Pigeon Lake poultry processing plant as a stark example: with the plant’s closure there is no accessible inspected poultry abattoir in Alberta. For cattle, the situation is not much better, and as more slaughter operations close down, farmers have to drive further and further to reach an inspected abattoir, adding trucking expenses and animal welfare concerns. This is before considering the months-long wait times for timeslots at provincially-inspected abattoirs that many of us testified to.
OFSO provided us with a solution for this problem, and we invested! OFSO licence-holders see a clear space for the program for our businesses and communities, but we need the slaughter capacity on our farms to make this program viable.
“More coaching, less inspecting”
Some OFSO farmers found the tools and resources that were provided with the program very useful. These were often developed as the result of issues that came up during inspections. However, there was also a common complaint that inspections often appeared arbitrary — whether as a result of new or different inspectors, or a focus on different rules. Several of us noted the very different approach taken by senior departmental inspectors, as compared to the usual inspectors who were third-party contractors.
OFSO farmers want to work with the Ministry of Agriculture to build an OFSO regulatory framework that helps farmers to succeed, with program staff trained to coach farmers into compliance rather than inspect and enforce, and rules developed and adapted through practical on-the-ground program implementation, rules that work for everyone.
OFSO farmers have taken the government—and the OFSO program—seriously. We have invested in all kinds of equipment, including HVAC systems, coolers, freezers, smokers, and meat-cutting equipment; infrastructure for processing, including new sheds; tests to fulfill license requirements, and even college courses on butchery.
“He gave me a card, now he won’t speak to me”
While some OFSO farmers have been invited to connect with Ministry staff, those connections have yet to take place. We are now looking for the opportunity to discuss with the Minister and Premier how everyone involved in the OFSO program – farmers and regulators – can work together to make it successful, and ensure a continued supply of safe, fresh, local meat in our communities.
Conclusion
We are looking to build a stable, alternative structure that will support stable rural livelihoods. We are willing to put in the time and the investment, and willing to work within a predictable framework that lets us plan for secure, steady, reasonable growth.
We look forward to meeting with the Premier and the Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation to discuss our concerns, and to join us in committing to the improvement of the OFSO program for small farmers and the consumers that we serve.
