It should be the perfect paddock-to-plate story: A Queensland farmer who raises pasture-fed pork and beef looking to butcher his own meat and grow his business. 

But Randal Breen said instead of a fairy tale, it had become a red tape nightmare. 

Mr Breen wants to build a 50 square metre boning and packing shed on his farm in the Goomburra Valley, where he hoped to process up to 10 animals a week.

But local planning laws mean he needs to meet the same requirements as an abattoir, which can slaughter hundreds of animals a day.

"It's a small – very small – space, putting not a lot of product through it.

"It's been just really difficult and haven't felt as if the process has been positive or embracing."

Mr Breen has been negotiating with Southern Downs Regional Council for two years, but still does not have planning approval.

Council defends process

A spokesperson for the council said the size of the building did not matter, it was the activity – butchering animals – that determined the classification of the project, which was consistent with other similar projects.

"The pathways for approvals are often complex and involving a number of specific professional fields from food safety, building certification and building design alongside waste management and traffic management considerations," the spokesperson said.

But Mr Breen said expecting a husband-and-wife team to go through the same process as a large-scale meat plant would hurt people trying to diversify and meet consumer expectations for ethical and sustainably-sourced local food.

"When it's so difficult … I can 100 per cent appreciate why someone would say, 'oh well, we're not going to do it' or perhaps just do it illegally and hopefully don't get found out."

The public submission period for the plan is now complete, with council staff to consider submissions and report back.

Overseas farmers diversifying with aged care and child care

With natural disasters, trade and global conflict hitting the profitability of many farmers, new research has backed Mr Breen's calls for an innovative approach to regulate businesses like his.

An international study, published in Regional Studies, Regional Science, found climate change will leave intensive farming regions more vulnerable to crop losses.

Flinders University lecturer Sharif Rasel said this meant farmers would need a secondary income – such as from a butcher shop — to survive.

Dr Rasel said while farm tourism was a common income source in Australia, overseas farmers were exploring opportunities in sectors such as aged care or child care.

"It's important for the residents as well because they have the opportunity to live out in nature," he said.

He said governments of all levels needed to provide incentives to diversify, such as subsidies, particularly in more remote areas.

But that sort of idea only works if the regulators keep up, and changes to planning laws often take years to enact.

Jacqueline McGlade from Strathmore University in Kenya works with farmers all over the world to transition to regenerative farming practices.

Professor McGlade said there was a great opportunity for Australia to develop innovative land uses and farm practices, but authorities often struggled to adapt to the swiftly changing landscape.

"One of the challenges that we have is that regenerative farming still has a relatively fuzzy definition," she said.

"And that, I think, is what is what is making some authorities hesitant about using the term regenerative as a planning tool. But that's not to say that it shouldn't happen as quickly as possible."

Calls for changes to regulation

In the meantime, Mr Breen would like to see "scale-appropriate" regulations embraced.

"Where small-scale operators like ourselves can get through some of these hurdles a lot quicker and a lot more efficiently," he said.

He said bureaucracy was a "slow-moving machine" but more agility was needed.

"I think that's probably been the biggest stumbling block, because councils just haven't quite come across to see where our food system is shifting to," he said.

He said if approved, he would also hire a butcher and an apprentice.

"It will build a rich and vibrant little farm business that is a demonstration for other farmers in the area of what they could do in order to build a viable and financially beneficial enterprise."