The operating plan, released mid-year, identifies six strategic reporting portfolios - sheep production, marketing, consultation, industry development and market analytics. Each of these portfolios is divided into a number of programs and subprograms.
AWI chairman, Jock Laurie, said the organisation's plan remains to ‘invest in areas that will deliver outcomes.'
"There are some areas where we are starting to see some real impacts in product development and on-farm research, especially around shearer training," Laurie said.
"There is a lot going on that is all relevant to industry, and it's all embedded in the plan in one way or another."
Laurie said the company's budget was becoming limited, hence the need to make sure money was directed to areas of greatest need.
"With the Eastern Market Indicator where it is and the woolgrower levy where it is (1.5 per cent, down from two per cent previously), we have used up a lot of reserves. We are now in a position where we've got to really downsize the company," he said.
"We will be downsizing across the board through research and development, marketing, staffing, and everything else. We've been very clear about that for an extended period of time.
"This means we have to be really strategic and targeted in our spend in order to deliver the best outcomes."
SHEEP PRODUCTION
A key target in the Sheep Production portfolio is to invest in innovative solutions targeting wool harvesting alternatives to improve shearer and/or animal welfare and increase shearing efficiency.
"We know the biggest issue around at the moment is in the shearing space, so investment in the shearing space and providing options for woolgrowers is going to be absolutely critical," Laurie said.
"Shearer shortages during Covid allowed us to step in and invest very heavily into shearer training, enabling new entrants into the industry and upskilling people already in the industry."
The report outlines an aim for an ongoing retention rate of 75 per cent of those trained yearly.
"We have done quite a bit of work around shed hand training. That will now be supported by new shed designs, new module designs we have been working on, and all these things put together with alternative wool harvesting measures in the pipeline are going to provide real options for woolgrowers going forward."
Laurie said technology advancements were providing a lure for younger people to enter or re-enter the wool industry.
"Young people really like the technology and the ASBVs, they love that data, which is bringing people back. All these things external to the shed are very important in encouraging people into the industry," he said.
Tackling flystrike problems was a key theme for a number of aims in the Sheep Production section of the plan. Specifically, aims included supporting woolgrowers to breed for increasing flystrike resistance, training growers and advisors in moving to a non-mulesed enterprise, and commissioning projects in flystrike management tools targeting the viability of the fly.
Laurie said AWI's stance on mulesing remained firm.
"If producers want to move to non-mulesed, we'll provide the tools for them to do so. We will not be giving any direction individually to woolgrowers about what they should or shouldn't be doing," he said.
"Each individual property has an individual management regime, each area in the country has a different environment, so the requirement for flystrike management in all those different areas is completely different.
"We will provide all the market signals, all the information, and the tools for them to go wherever they want to go, and the growers will make up their own mind based on the info provided to them."
Other targets outlined in the Sheep Production part of the operating plan included the continued aim towards increasing the national weaning rate by five percentage points from 2020 to 2030 (0.5 percentage points per year), and assisting woolgrowers to improve on-farm natural capital, increase drought resilience, and enable new income streams such as carbon and biodiversity markets.
CONSUMER SENTIMENT AND MARKET ACCESS
The report outlined a need to continue celebrating wool, including its value and desirability, benefits over synthetics, and its potential use in loungewear.
"Consumer sentiment and visual image is always very difficult to manage," Laurie said.
"All we can do is continue to talk about the fact that farmers are operating in best practice, they make decisions based on the best interest of their sheep, and are supported by legislation to do that.
"We are working very hard to continue to show the importance of wool. The debate in that naturally changes depending on a range of issues for a range of reasons. What we have to do is keep the coverage over all those areas and continue to inform about all the credentials of natural fibre wool.
"It's sitting there with this product, and we need to continually inform the broader community of the great benefits of it."
A target in the report was to increase brand awareness for Woolmark and Merino wool benefits in China by three per cent, with Laurie saying China will always remain a key market.
"China is a very dominant marketplace - they are taking about 80 per cent of our raw wool and they are consuming not far shy of that in the domestic market. That is continuing to grow as more wealth is generated in China," he said.
"China without a doubt is a target market, so the more we can do in China to really establish the credentials of wool, the better it is, because it is such a big domestic market. If we can get a lot of it tagged Woolmark on the way through, that's really adding quality guarantee to the product."
Despite a large amount of macroeconomic uncertainty, Laurie was certain that wool had a ‘tremendously bright future' ahead.
"Wool is sitting there in an absolutely beautiful position to provide the international community with what it wants when it comes to biodegradability, environmental outcomes, and sustainability," he said.
"Albeit while things may not be that flash in some of those markets at the moment, we need to keep encouraging people to be involved, and I think leading figures in the wool industry need to do that."
MARKET INCENTIVES NEEDED BEFORE PRACTICE CHANGE
For South Australian Merino grazier Lisa Lewis, Yunta, ceasing mulesing would require market incentives further down the supply chain to make the process financially viable.
"I don't think any farmer wants to mules, people do it for longer-term welfare. In pastoral country, it's very difficult not to mules, because of the country we are in which is very prone to flystrike," she said.
"If you didn't mules, you'd have to crutch more than once a year, so there is that added cost, and we aren't seeing the premium at the other end."
The Lewis family runs Panaramitee Station and Tiverton Station in South Australia's north east pastoral zone, currently with 4500 breeding ewes, 1500 ewe lambs and 5000 wethers as they continue to building up numbers again after the drought.
Lewis said ceasing mulesing on the stations didn't ‘stack up financially'.
"There is a need to focus on the animal welfare side of things, but I don't think mulesing can be phased out at this point in time without a suitable alternative," she said.
"We did the numbers - it worked out that it would cost us more to stop mulesing (than if we were to continue). You have to factor in stock losses, double crutching, extra chemical, and the premium at the other end just wasn't there."
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