For 36 years, Gordon Fraser has been slaughtering chickens, cattle, pigs and up until recently, turkeys.

That’s because the general manager of the Nova Scotia Turkey Producers Marketing Board recently came to his shop and ordered the popular Pictou County butcher to stop slaughtering turkeys.

Fraser says the turkeys are raised by locals and 4-H kids.

"I said, ‘What about these people with all these turkeys? What are they going to do with them?'" said Fraser.

"She said, 'I don't care what they do with them.' She said, 'They can kill them in their backyard, so long as they don't take them to Gordon Fraser.'"

The situation has upset a lot of people in the Pictou County area, so much so that a meeting and rally have been organized for next week to support Fraser.

End of Pictou County local food movement?

"It could be the end of the local food movement in Pictou County as far as meat goes," said Robert Parker.

"If there's no processor, then people aren't going to grow their own chickens, their own turkeys."

The Turkey Board is defending its move, saying this amounts to a food-safety issue. It says Fraser is not federally or provincially inspected, and is not registered with the board.

Fraser says with such a small operation, he can't afford the cost of becoming an inspected facility.