New industry body aims to unite and rebuild strong wool industry

A basic version of the new body is expected to be in placed by mid next year, and a fully operational version by 2027.

The proposal has come from the Wool Alliance, a cross-sector body recently launched through a formal agreement between Campaign for Wool NZ, Wool Impact, the Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand (WRONZ) and Beef+Lamb NZ.

The idea is currently being rolled out for public engagement and was presented to growers for their input in a webinar last week.

Former Fonterra chair, John Monaghan, the inaugural and independent chair of Wool Alliance, told the webinar that Alliance members were certain that there was potential to unlock further value in the New Zealand wool industry by working collaboratively.

"The plan is that by 2026, we have a model version developed utilising existing resources. And we will aim to have the fully funded model in placed by 2027.

"Significant progress has been made, and ongoing efforts and improved collaboration are still required."

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The webinar was told the steering group had identified several key areas of work, including standards and certification, communication within the industry, vocational training, advocacy, and funding.

NZWool would be non-profit, transparent and accountable.

Kara Biggs, the general manager of campaign for Wool NZ, explained that her organisation and Wool Impact would both consolidate into the new organisation and their work would continue under the new structure.

"What we've heard from growers is that you want less entities, not more. And so, what this central organisation does, is that it consolidates two key industry bodies into NZWool."

Of the other two members of the Wool Allicance, neither WRONZ nor Beef + Lamb NZ would sit within the new organisation but would work with it.

Biggs says WRONZ has committed to a formally signed strategic partnership with NZWool, while Beef + Lamb NZ already do "a huge amount of work" for the industry.

"So, what they have committed to do is to provide shared services, and this is for advocacy and back-office functions, because there's no point in duplicating this stuff when it's already being done so well by Beef+Lamb."

Emphasising that the new NZWool would be "no bigger than it needs to be," Wool Impact executive Ross McIsaac said the indicative budget to deliver the work needed at the scale required came to just under five million dollars per year.

That would come through multiple funding lines, including contributions from industry and growers, with a levy of possible around $200 per farm - or about two cents per kilo of greasy wool.

"When we talk about the cost of the model we also need to think about the type of return that we're trying to enable - and we are definitely looking at enabling a much more significant value-add than two or four cents per kg of wool."