For the month of May 2013, the volume of wool tested is -9.1% compared to the same month last year.

On a progressive basis, year to date May 2013, the volume is +2.9%.

The actual volume year to date is 349.6 million kg (greasy) compared to 339.7 (greasy) last year.

Comment:  Large areas of the sheep growing country have suffered very dry conditions over the last six months. This is especially applicable to the pastoral areas so we forecast that this will have a negative effect on production volume into next year.

Chad and Lou Taylor
Mumblebone, Wellington

Last year’s Fibre of our Nation competition winners, Chad and Louise Taylor of Wellington, NSW, have recently returned to Australia after a visit to New York where they enthusiastically discussed helping to build the demand for wool with representatives from fashion retail brands and The Woolmark Company.

The Fibre of our Nation competition was held by The Woolmark Company’s parent, Australian Wool Innovation (AWI). The  project helped tap into the stories of heritage, custodianship, community and humour amongst people involved with the Australian wool industry. There were close to 150 submissions entered in the project – many of which are available to view on the AWI website – which have provided AWI and brands with a wonderful marketing resource.

“Lou and I had a wonderful trip to New York with the first few days spent talking to the senior management of a number of high fashion retail brands,” Chad said. “Most of these brands have had representatives visit our farm in the past few years so it was very interesting to meet with them and gain some perspective on our industry from their side of town.

“I was quietly amazed at how receptive these people were when given the chance to speak about how we manage our land and livestock at home in Australia. To hear of a rotational grazing system that not only sequesters carbon but also regenerates native grasslands was new to many of these people and exactly the sort of story they are looking to connect with.”

The Woolmark Company organised for the Taylors to meet with three senior managers of Brooks Brothers – the oldest menswear retailer in the United States – for a tour through their Manhattan store.

“We heard how Brooks Brothers has perfected the relationship they now have with the Saxon Merino woolgrowers to ensure the company has a continued supply of this quality fibre,” Chad said. “The fibre comes complete with its unique story to help create the want for people to buy a Brooks Brothers Saxon wool suit as opposed to a woollen suit from a competing brand.

“It’s a win for all involved in the deal. The customer is happy, Brooks Brothers has increased market share in the high-end suiting market, and there’s a healthy premium being paid to the growers. As an Australian woolgrower, this is the sort of relationship I aspire to and it would be exciting to see some industry level debate on how more opportunities like this one could be emulated.”

The Taylors also spent half a day with The Woolmark Company’s country manager for the Americas, Michelle Lee, based in New York.

“Michelle quickly showed herself to be a very positive and vibrant appointment with a great vision and plenty of energy. We discussed everything from shearing sheds to catwalk models and were impressed to find someone with a similar view on the importance of direct to farm relationships.

“Another impressive initiative discussed with Michelle was the re-launch of the International Woolmark Prize. This is a great way of encouraging fashion’s future leaders to use wool in their creations. It became clear on our tour that it is important to have these leading fashion brands enthusiastic about using wool because they are the people that influence fashion, globally. If their designs include wool then the profile of wool will be lifted and so too demand for the fibre.”

The Taylors acknowledged that The Woolmark Company has “initiated some innovative and powerful global promotions for wool” and think this work could be supported by some more specific campaigns encouraging brand owners to connect directly with woolgrowers.

“If growers can share the story behind the wool they grow and the passion they have for growing wool, then I’m sure Australian wool could soon be established as the world’s ‘in fibre’ for people to wear, particularly in the northern hemisphere, returning profitability to woolgrowing areas around Australia.”

The wool used in the new designs (pictured) – in a navy featuring red and a splash of hot pink – can be traced back to about 50 wool growing properties across Australia, including from flocks close to where Qantas began at Longreach in western Queensland, as well as from the Riverina, South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria.

About 400 bales of 18-19 micron wool was selected for the project and sourced through the auction system.

“The combination of Merino wool and Qantas is a natural fit given the place both hold in Australia’s national character, both are central to the fabric of our nation,” said Australian Wool Innovation chief executive Stuart McCullough.

“A sustainably produced natural fibre, fine Merino wool is soft and breathable, keeping Qantas staff comfortable in both cool and warm climates – perfect for wearing anywhere the world.”

Mr McCullough said given most of the fabric on aeroplanes was wool to reduce flammability it was appropriate the new uniforms were made from wool – albeit for a different reason.

“If you’re seated on a fabric seat on an aeroplane, you’re likely to be sitting on wool. One is used for the non-flammability, the other (in the uniforms) for the durability and comfort,” he said.

The uniforms were designed by Paris-based, Melbourne-born designer Martin Grant, a long-time partner of The Woolmark Company.

AWI said Merino wool was well represented across the range, from the pure wool knitwear cardigans and vests, through to wool rich blends in jackets, skirts and trousers.

Mr Grant said designing the new Qantas uniform was a wonderful challenge and for inspiration he drew on his Australian heritage but combined that with his modern design aesthetic.

“Merino wool was the logical fibre for the uniform, it needed to be comfortable, hard wearing and stylish and wool is the only fabric that can be folded up on long haul flights and brought out and worn proudly by the crew as they disembark at their global destinations,” he said.

The last cabin crew uniform, designed by Peter Morrissey, was used for more than a decade.

Mr McCullough said AWI was proud the Woolmark logo was now attached to Qantas uniforms.

“Martin Grant has been a strong advocate for our wool and his designs showcase wool at its best,” he said.

The new uniforms are expected to be introduced to Qantas’ 12,600 cabin and ground staff from next year.

Rural Press Stock Journal | Ben Cubby | 31 March, 2013

An environment group is about to become the first in Australia to deploy surveillance drones to hunt for evidence of animal abuse on private property.

Animal Liberation will operate a drone, equipped with a powerful camera, above free-range egg farms, sheep farms and cattle yards to gather evidence of abuse.

And there appears to be little farmers can do to avoid coming under drone surveillance – flying drones above tree height is legal.

”Our legal advice is that if you’re no nearer than 10 metres above ground, and you’re not filming in anyone’s houses, you can go ahead,” said Mark Pearson, head of the animal welfare group.

”For example, if an egg producer says that they are free range, it would be helpful to check their claims by filming from above the property. You can gather the evidence, and there’s no need to trespass. Or let’s say we find a sheep dying from fly strike, we can record the location on a GPS and notify the authorities,” he said.

The group bought the six-bladed, helicopter-type drone for $14,000 from a commercial supplier, using public donations, and has just completed a training program. Deployment will begin next week, with several farms and businesses earmarked for surveillance.

Farmers were dubious about being watched by drones.

”Many people in rural communities would see this as another attack on their peace of mind and an invasion of their privacy,” said president of the NSW Farmers Association Fiona Simson.

She said farmers recognised that safe food meant healthy and happy animals. ”NSW Farmers does not condone any acts of animal cruelty and farmers are committed to high animal welfare standards,” Ms Simson said.

Mr Pearson said the drone would not just be used to gather evidence of illegal cruelty, but would also film some routine, legal farm practices that might upset non-farmers. ”We’re not interested in what farmers may be doing in their daily activities, and I completely respect people’s privacy,” he said.

”But there are lots of cases where farming activities cause horrible distress to animals – mulesing being a common example. People are entitled to know and see what’s going on. So, even if it is lawful, if we think the public is going to be outraged or if we think they need to be informed, we will show it.”

This month Animal Liberation exposed horrific acts of cruelty at an Ingham turkey farm in Sydney, after anonymous footage was handed to the group showing turkeys being bashed and trodden on.

Australian Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim has said ”the potentially intrusive nature of the technology” meant there should be a public debate about existing regulations.

Australian Bureau of Agricultural Economics (ABARE) has issued the following outlook statement about the price and supply of wool.

WOOL prices are tipped to rise over the next five years with stronger economic activity in Western Europe and the US expected to lift consumer demand for discretionary products such as woollen clothes.

ABARES, the national commodity forecaster, this week predicted wool’s benchmark eastern market indicator (EMI) would rise by 12 per cent in 2013-14 to average 1180 cents a kilogram clean.

And, with more good news for growers, it expected the EMI to rise by 15pc to average around 1200c/kg clean in 2017–18.

Besides China’s apparel wool exports benefiting from strengthening demand in key world markets, ABARES said improved economic activity would also see China’s domestic demand for wool apparel increase.

However, an assumed further strengthening of the Australian dollar and a forecast slight increase in global wool production were expected to put some downward pressure on prices which would limit their potential for rises in 2013–14.

After two years of increasing prices in 2010 and 2011 – peaking with an EMI of 1436c in June, 2011 – the EMI declined during the first eight months of 2012 due to weaker consumer demand in Western Europe, the US and Japan.

The EMI price fall was led by a sharp drop in the prices of fine and superfine wools. A modest recovery started in the final quarter of 2012 and continued into early 2013.

ABARES expected prices to remain relatively firm for the remainder of the year, forecasting the EMI would average 1050c for 2012–13 as a whole, 13pc lower than the 2011–12 average of 1203c.

The improved wool market was also helping spur national flock rebuilding with numbers expected to reach 77 million by June 30, 2014.

The swing to lamb production over the past two decades had increased the proportion of ewes in the adult flock (now around 81pc) and reduced the number of heavy-cutting Merino wethers which had impacted on wool production.

Australian shorn wool production was forecast to increase by 2pc in 2013–14 to 368,000 tonnes as a result of the increase in the number of sheep shorn and in fleece weights as more producers again focused on wool.

Over the medium term Australian shorn wool production was forecast to keep increasing, reaching 392,000 tonnes in 2017–18 as the number of sheep shorn continued to rise and the average wool cut per head rose

incrementally with the growth in wether numbers.

ABARES said when sheep numbers were contracting, the share of medium Merino wools (19.6 to 24.5 micron) in the national clip declined from just under 80pc in the early 1990s to 49pc in 2008–09 when sheep numbers were at their lowest.

Production of fine and superfine wools (19.5 micron and finer) rose over this period from 8pc in 1992–93 to over one-third of the clip.

The share of these wools had continued to grow with 37pc of wools in this category in 2011–12.

Greater use of crossbreed sheep to increase sheepmeat production had also resulted in a production rise of broader micron wool (24.6 micron and broader) in recent years, from 15pc in 2008–09 to 18pc in 2011–12.

Over the medium term the expected increase in Merino sheep for wool production would lead to the proportion of mid-micron wools increasing again, but this would be tempered with the continued but slower growth in sheepmeat production.

Professor Mark Adams

THE big themes of agriculture – water, food and carbon – will for the first time be tackled as a set of interconnected issues in a new University of Sydney initiative.

Dean of the university’s Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Professor Mark Adams, said he has been working on the concept for five years.

The Centre for Carbon, Water and Food, which has initial funding of $20 million from the university and federal government, was launched yesterday by the Prime Minister Julia Gillard. The Centre’s head, Dean of the university’s Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Professor Mark Adams, said he has been working on the concept for five years.

“We need to find ways of keeping people in rural Australia, and that means making agriculture sustainable and profitable,” Prof. Adams said.

“How can we produce more food and fibre while sustainably managing water and carbon on public and private land – for downstream users as well as locally?”

The Centre’s business plan focuses on research that will define policy options about “what to grow, how to grow it, the sort of inputs we need (to be) sustainable”.

“All of this we’ve heard before, but here we’re taking all these issues and asking how we tackle them in one place, with one group of people,” Prof. Adams said.

“Its about putting the leaders in different fields together and throwing them the big problems.”

Staff include Professor Alex McBratney, currently the Deputy Director General of the International Union of Soil Sciences; Professor Robert Park, who was in 2009 given the Friendship Award of China; and five newly appointed ARC Future Fellows and a newly appointed ARC DECRA Awardee.

“I could have employed five soil scientists to go away and get more phosphate availability in our soils. But the bigger challenge is: how do we improve nutritional status of the plant, and of the cattle that eat the plant, and of the people that eat the cattle that eat the plant?” Prof. Adams said.

Globally, there is enormous pent-up demand for this interdisciplinary approach, Prof. Adams said – which is why the first partners to sign up to work with the Centre are two Chinese science academies.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the University of Sydney and the Chinese Academy of Agriculture Science will see a Sino-Australia Joint Laboratory for Sustainable Agro-Ecosystems established and housed at the Centre, working with a mirror facility in Beijing.

Another MOU with Nanjing Agricultural University will see a Sino-Australian Laboratory for Food Security established and housed at the Centre, with a mirror facility in Nanjing.

China has a vastly different agriculture to Australia, Prof. Adams said, but the core principles were the same: how to do more with less.

In many respects, Australian agriculture will find it much more difficult to make progress than China.

Much of Chinese agriculture is using old tools and techniques, and big gains in efficiency should be possible. Australian farmers are already among the world’s most efficient, so gains will have to come from completely new knowledge.

In Australia, the Centre plans to focus on three areas: the Murray-Darling Basin, including the high country and forests of south-east Australia; urban-rural interfaces, especially on the east coast; and agriculture-mining interfaces.

LONDON – The growing power of social media could have dire consequences for clothing brands that continue to flout environmental laws, creating a major headache for shareholders and investors according to Ecotextile News contributor Pamela Ravasio, who says other NGO’s are set to follow Greenpeace’s example and target the global fashion industry with more negative publicity in 2013.

Ravasio, who runs fashion industry consultancy texSture, cites strong evidence to back her argument – including a Ponemon Institute and Experian survey of 850 executives, which found that the average loss in brand value due to reputation damage ranges from US$184 million to more than US$330 million.

“If nothing else, these numbers should be ringing the alarm bells among fashion CEOs,” she says.

The same Ponemon Institute and Experian survey found that the minimum brand damage ranges from between 12 per cent, and up to 25 per cent loss of the brand value in some instances.

Writing in the next issue of Ecotextile News magazine, Ravasio adds: “Campaign NGOs and citizen journalist movements … are experts in conjecture, carefully crafted scenarios built on a company’s past performance, current facts, and the ‘what ifs’ of the future.

“It is no coincidence that organisations such as Greenpeace are experiencing a boom, and that their campaigns are echoed globally. With their blatant arguments, they … are creating an emotional link between otherwise disengaged downstream consumers with a corporation’s upstream business practise. In this way they have turned consumers into active and engaged stakeholders.”

Ravasio says similar campaigns are already targeting the fashion industry, or are bound to target it shortly, including Human Rights Watch’s ‘Toxic Tanneries’ and Friends of the Earth’s ‘Make it Better’ campaign, in addition to the likes of PETA and the Clean Clothes Campaign.

ON-FARM data collection of carbon stocks on woolgrowing properties will unlock productivity gains and help inform ways that growers can be recognised for storing carbon.

Research by Australian Wool Innovation is collecting data as part of a carbon audit of two major Merino production systems – in the mixed cropping zone and high rainfall zone. Measurements will be taken mostly in WA and Victoria respectively, with some also to be taken in parts of NSW.

The audit will locate carbon stocks, determine how much carbon is being built in the system and its movement, called carbon fluxes.

The work could lead to wool being part of a ‘methodology’, a federal government-recognised activity that reduces carbon emissions and generates carbon credits under the Carbon Farming Initiative.

Examples of CFI methodologies include reforestation, forest management and native forest protection; landfill gas recovery; manure management; management of methane from livestock, and soil carbon and biochar.

Work is in the second year and due to finish by the end of 2013. Data collection should be complete in six months.

AWI program manager environment, climate change & carbon Gus Manatsa said the project’s ultimate aim was to improve production and profitability of woolgrowing systems in a sustainable way.

He said the project would also help back-up wool’s claims it was a natural, sustainable fibre, which would inform global markets.

“The importance of carbon is that it’s the main foundation of your soil’s production system,” Mr Manatsa said. “If you want your soil to be resilient, you have to build your carbon. If your soil health is good, your pasture system is good.”

AWI has recently been admitted to two government committees run by the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency charged with investigating possible livestock methodologies.

They involve a steering group that is responsible for looking at practical issues identified in the industry while a working group will look into the hard science. NSW woolgrower John Ive has been appointed to one of the groups as a farmer-representative and part of the Climate Champion program.

“For every methodology, you have to have robust science behind it,” Mr Manatsa said. “But at the same time, you can have something that is backed up by robust science but if it’s not practical, it’s not going to be used by the farmers.”

Mr Manatsa said methodologies that the department was currently working on were for intensive systems, such as piggeries and feedlot systems, where the variables were easier to control than an extensive system, like grazing.

He said the work would allow the industry to understand how carbon stocks could be used to counter-balance the argument about sheep methane emission.

“Once we know that, we can say while the sheep are emitting methane, at the same time, the farmer’s pasture system is building so much carbon so there is a balance there.

“If somehow the carbon market takes off and we are not doing anything, then we are doing a disservice to woolgrowers. We could miss an opportunity.

“Anything in terms of carbon methodologies and participation in carbon markets, they are a bonus. The major drive for farmers is not to participate in carbon markets but to produce more wool and increase quality.”

He said soils that had good carbon stocks were more likely to be sustained through drought.

Stock Journal |Deanna Lush | January 3, 2013

‘Green’ wool a priority

PROVING the environmental credentials of wool will be one of Australian Wool Innovation’s top priorities in 2013.

AWI group manager of market intelligence and reporting Paul Swan said key projects would focus on collecting the hard data required to prove wool was as environmentally friendly as Australia claimed.

Dr Swan said the industry urgently needed to combat incorrect perceptions that wool was not a natural, sustainable fibre.

This was from overseas groups such as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition – an industry-wide alliance of 60 brands, retailers, suppliers and not-for-profit groups working to reduce environmental and social impacts of apparel and footwear products – and also Made-By, a European not-for-profit organisation with a mission to ‘make sustainable fashion common practice’.

Both had released sustainability indexes that had scored wool poorly.

“There’s an urgent need to combat those poor ratings. We think it is mostly education or informing people,” he said. “It’s a long-term strategy but will yield enormous fruit.

“We have done a lot of work in quantifying wool’s footprint and identifying the flaws in previously published research where some people say wool is bad for the environment.”

This included a global wardrobe audit where 500 consumers in seven countries assessed their wardrobes to determine how many items of clothing there were, comprising what fibres and how long they had owned them. This work proved wool garments were reused or recycled more than other fibre types.

He said AWI was working with the International Wool Textile Organisation and had recently appointed an environmental credentials coordinator based in Brussels who would engage with companies, such as Nike, on behalf of the wool industry.

IWTO had also established a working group on wool’s environmental credentials with membership from China, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, South Africa, Uruguay and Argentina. In total, 65,000 Euro had been raised, which AWI would match, to help progress research and education.

Meanwhile on-farm, work to underpin wool’s environmental credentials by FCA Consulting’s Stephen Wiedemann, Toowoomba, which took an alternative view of the carbon footprint of wool, would soon be published in scientific journals for review.

The research – presented at IWTO’s conference in May – found a new method of measuring on-farm emissions from wool production could reduce previous estimates of its carbon footprint by 70 per cent to 80pc.

And off-farm, following wool from a raw fibre through all the processes of transport, processing, knitting, weaving to its end use, its whole of life footprint could be 34pc lower than earlier estimates.

These new estimates are being called a breakthrough for wool, further boosting its reputation as a natural, environmentally-friendly fibre and delivering farmers some extra firepower when it comes to negotiations on emissions trading and the carbon tax.

“This work has a dramatic impact, especially when combining that with the work we’ve done at the garment end in asking ‘how long do wool garments last?’” Dr Swan said.

“We think this year will be a very good year for looking at wool’s environmental credentials. It’s been a while coming but it takes time to do the research and put the relationships in place. There’s a number of things happening now and we will start to see the output in the next 12 months.

The Australian  Adam Shand  January,5, 2013

NEW Zealand farmers are pulling the wool over the eyes of consumers, claiming Australian fibre as their own as the trans-Tasman rivals battle it out for international market share.

And the gloves are off between Australian and New Zealand wool growers as Australian Wool Innovation launches a $53 million marketing campaign to promote the quality of its fibre.

The boss of AWI, a not-for-profit company that promotes domestic wool, claims local fibre is being passed off as a product of New Zealand.

AWI chief executive Stuart McCullough says New Zealand sells more wool than it produces and makes up the shortfall by including Australian product.

“They’re getting it from somewhere and the chances are they’re getting it from Australia,” he says.

On the other side of the Tasman, Wools of New Zealand claims that “some unscrupulous manufacturers” are cashing in on Kiwi wool’s reputation for superior quality by putting misleading labels on their clothing products.

While Wools of New Zealand has not named Australia specifically, the claim is said to be directed at manufacturers here.

Most Australian wool is usedfor clothing, while most New Zealand wool is destined for carpets.

AWI, which owns the Woolmark symbol, is increasing its marketing budget by 56 per cent in an attempt to convince the fashion industry and consumers of the benefits of Australian wool.

Kiwi wool marketers concede that not all its wool is sourced from its own flocks.

Accredited New Zealand woollen garments may still contain some wool from elsewhere, but there are strict rules over the composition. Wools of New Zealand has introduced Laneve, a new quality mark that allows wool to be traced back to its source.

Wools of New Zealand has returned fire at AWI, claiming Kiwi farmers had higher standards of animal welfare than their Australian rivals.

The Australian wool industry has been criticised by activist groups, such as PETA, for mulesing, which involves slicing off the wrinkles from a sheep’s behind to reduce flystrike, which they argue is cruel to sheep.

Stephen Parsons, the innovation manager of Wools of New Zealand, says that it was working to position wool as a niche product, leaving the intense price competition to “downmarket British and Australian producers”.

“There were also animal husbandry issues, with people like PETA complaining about Australian merino wool. My advice is to look for our brand — we can guarantee it’s New Zealand wool and we can tell you where it’s grown.”

Australian Association of Stud Merino Breeders president Phil Toland said the battle was all about marketing as consumers would be hard pressed to spot the difference between the different wools. “It’s the same wool from the same sheep with the same genetics,” he said.

“Merino sheep in New Zealand originated in Australia and the techniques of processing wool are almost identical.”

In any case, the volume of Australian wool from six million merino sheep overwhelms the clip from just one million merinos in New Zealand, Mr Toland said.

“The Kiwis would do well to ride on the Australian industry’s back.”

New Zealand export prices for wool rose to a 21-year high last year, although export values were less than half the level of their 1980s peak.

Between 1982 and last year, the number of sheep in Australia of all breeds fell from 70 million to 31 million.

In Australia, prices have remained above $10/kg for two years.

“That is a bit of a line in the sand,” Mr McCullough says. “Above that level, farmers are going to stick at what they’re doing.”

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: THE TIMES