AWI working for woolgrowers
AWI CEO John Roberts provides readers with an overview of how AWI is undertaking R&D and marketing to address some of the key issues faced by Australian woolgrowers.
Consulation underway on AWI’s new Strategic Plan
AWI is currently developing its next three-year Strategic Plan in consultation with woolgrowers and wool industry bodies.
Meetings were held last month with the Woolgrower Industry Consultation Panel (WICP) and the Woolgrower Consultation Group (WCG), the two key forums through which AWI formally engages with woolgrower representative groups. The WICP comprises a core group of members from the nine national woolgrower organisations. The WCG is a broader group of 28 representatives comprising state and regional production-based woolgrower groups, as well as the members of the WICP.
At these latest meetings, both the WICP and WCG provided constructive input into the key R&D and marketing priorities of these bodies and the woolgrowers they represent.
The Strategic Plan consultation process will continue with meetings between AWI and the Producer Advisory Panels (PAP) of each of the six state-based AWI Extension Networks. Each PAP comprises woolgrowers and industry stakeholders from across the state.
Further meetings will be held with the WICP and WCG to ensure industry views and priorities are incorporated into the plan before the AWI Board finalises it. The new Strategic Plan will apply from July.
Woolgrowers can provide their input to AWI through (1) the WICP or WCG by contacting their member organisation (listed at wool.com/consultation), (2) members of their state PAP (listed via wool.com/networks), or (3) directly to AWI by emailing feedback@wool.com or by writing to our Sydney office address.
As well as being produced with extensive woolgrower and industry consultation, the new Strategic Plan will be shaped by the result of WoolPoll 2024 and the broader financial position of the company.
Fundamental strengths of wool-growing enterprises
When I meet woolgrowers at events across Australia, I am always struck by how passionate they are about their wool enterprises, and also resilient when faced with, for example, poor seasonal conditions. They appreciate the evidence that wool sheep are a good choice for long-term farm profitability and risk management.
Wool sheep remain the true dual purpose animal, offering production options and a reliable source of income. As Agrista’s recent analysis of livestock enterprise profitability concluded, there are several strengths of wool enterprises over other livestock enterprises:
- Diversity of income – Wool enterprises have multiple income streams including wool, sheep meat and, in some cases, lamb. This diversity in income enables woolgrowers to adapt their enterprise based on market signals, resource suitability or management preference.
- Income generation during drought – Wool sheep have low maintenance energy requirements and produce a fleece of reasonable value even in a drought, meaning that the reduction in income due to drought is lower when compared to livestock enterprises dependent on meat production.
- Maternal flexibility – The Merino ewe has the flexibility to be joined to a Merino to produce progeny with high capability of growing wool, or to a maternal sire, or a terminal sire, or it can be managed as a dry sheep with lower energy requirements and higher wool production relative to a lactating ewe.
- The value of wethers and dry ewes – Wethers are a feed efficient animal because there is no reproductive demand for energy. These animals are well-suited to land classes with low energy feed and to environments with little seasonal rainfall pattern.
These strengths helped wool enterprises attain similar or superior profits compared to other livestock enterprise types over the five-years 2018-19 to 2022-23.
Merinos also have similar strengths in mixed farming areas. They are a great risk management strategy in the wheatbelt zone and remain a great complement to cropping, especially with the increasingly variable climate.
A focus on improving the performance of a wool-growing enterprise is more likely to increase profits than moving to a different enterprise. Plus changing enterprises incurs significant up-front capital costs for, for example, new infrastructure, plant or genetics.
There are opportunities to increase productivity and profit in a wool enterprise at the farm level in areas such as reproductive performance, genetic gain, better sheep health, a more resilient feedbase, and on-farm automation.
In global markets, there are also many opportunities for wool including the trend towards sustainable fibres, the growing interest in the provenance of products, the increasing use of Merino wool as a high-performance fibre, and new product innovations such as wool footwear. The Chinese wool processing industry has invested heavily in wool in the past few years – and new processing markets, such as Vietnam which I very recently visited, are also gearing up for wool.
Despite global economic conditions not delivering the wool prices right now that woolgrowers deserve, I believe that the fundamental benefits of wool and long-term consumer trends play in wool’s favour. I have a healthy optimism in the long-term future for Australian wool and AWI will continue to work hard on behalf of the producers that grow this great fibre.
This article appeared in the Autumn 2025 edition of AWI’s Beyond the Bale magazine that was published in March 2025. Reproduction of the article is encouraged.
