The long-awaited Manitoulin Island Community Abattoir (MICA) is moving forward, following confirmation of funding of $129,168 from the province's Rural Economic Development (RED) Program.
The abattoir will be located on a 10-acre piece of property in the Township of Central Manitoulin on land owned by MICA, a not-for-profit corporation. The plant will be physically equipped to handle 20 cattle and 20 hogs per kill day, and operated at one kill day per week.
Expressing her gratitude on behalf of area farmers, Birgit Martin, a Gore Bay-area farmer and chair of MICA, a not-for-profit corporation, said in a news release the funding would help boost the local agricultural economy.
“The new abattoir will give farmers the opportunity to expand their marketing opportunities and it will give the consumers in the greater Manitoulin area the opportunity to eat local meat,” she said in the release. “It is with great anticipation that we look forward to the opening of the Manitoulin Island Community Abattoir in the coming months."
More than 70 meat processors and producers will use the new facility, which is expected to grow the local agricultural sector, create a stronger community of producers, and increase the sustainability of the local beef farms.
A community abattoir has been in the works for Manitoulin for a number of years, but has been repeatedly stymied by roadblocks, forcing Island farmers to ship their product to southern Ontario for finishing.
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