Wool is in the farmers' hands

Federated Farmers Meat & Fibre chairperson, Bruce Wills, is encouraging farmers to seriously look into Wool Partners Cooperative’s (WPC) proposal, before the offer closes next Tuesday, 30 November.  Mr Wills has himself decided to ‘share-up’ with WPC.

“Let me be clear, what I’m not about to do is to tell farmers where and how to sell their wool,” says Bruce Wills, Federated Farmers Meat & Fibre chairperson.

“What I would like farmers to do, is to seriously look at an opportunity, which, in my view, is the most exciting initiative the wool industry has seen in a very long time.

“Back in January, following the wool levy decision, I said ‘farmers have an opportunity to dictate the future of their industry…in our wool industry we are ‘weak sellers’, which is causing us to miss out on opportunities to increase our returns.  To change this, I believe we have two options – ‘consolidate’ or ‘differentiate’.

“Few in our industry would debate the need for consolidation and unity. Few would debate the need for growers to take control of their destiny beyond the farm gate. We’ve been price takers for too long.

“Wool is a fabulous natural renewable product with an exciting future. I believe the proposal from WPC ticks all of the boxes.

“I don’t know whether WPC is going to be a roaring success, but what I know as a wool grower, is that the last few years have not been fun.  Sure, we can get all tangled up in the past and we can cry poor saying we don’t have the money.

“But doing nothing is just not an option anymore. 

“I know change isn’t easy and investing in a new company is a leap of faith.  Yet, if we are to remain farming, the profitability of meat and fibre farmers must improve.

“So speaking as a fibre farmer, I believe the WPC proposal offers a compelling commercial opportunity to achieve the step change in wool that is so badly needed.

“We sheep farmers have let far too many opportunities pass us by. Let’s not make that same mistake again,” Mr Wills concluded.