Source: Federated Farmers
Federated Farmers meat & wool chair Richard Dawkins joins other farming and wool industry leaders at strong wool workshops in Otago and Southland next week. Richard writes there’s reason for hope the strong wool industry has turned a corner – but farmers need to get in behind the change-makers.
My earliest memories of wool are of hot summer days after weaning, shearing our mixed-aged and two-tooth mid-micron Corriedale ewes.
The hum of the handpieces, my father and grandfather skirting fleeces at the table, and Marty – our long-time worker – stuffing them into the press.
In the early 1980s, wool contributed 65% of our farm’s sheep income. Wool was king, and sheep were a true dual-purpose animal.
Today, strong wool makes up just 1-2% of gross farm income. It’s become little more than an animal health treatment, rather than a value-adding enterprise.
The national sheep flock is now about one third of what it was at its peak in the 1980s – and our influence in global markets has similarly dwindled.
I don’t want to rehash old grievances, but to comprehend what’s next for us farmers and the wool industry, we must understand how we got here, and what we can improve on.
Synthetic fibres rose in the 1970s, capturing market share with low cost and convenience.
The collapse of the Reserve Price Scheme in 1991 removed the price floor, exposing growers to full competition with synthetics.
Prices fell – and kept falling – as industry failed to adapt. The traditional supply chain couldn’t deliver value to farmers, and relying on bulk commodity demand became folly.
Fragmentation remains one of our biggest weaknesses. From farm to consumer, wool is handled, blended, and traded repeatedly – margins are clipped at every stage, but little is reinvested in building demand or brand.
Most farmers have no idea where their wool
