Tomorrow’s sheep industry will be a global affair
WORLD sheep and wool council director Ben Watts says the future of Australia’s wool industry can be enhanced by more international collaboration - especially in global wool marketing.
Speaking at a national farm food safety conference in Launceston last week, Mr Watts entered the “wool future” debate by suggesting that although consumers were already seeking ethical products, the Australian wool industry was at risk of losing its opportunity to sell to them if it failed to act collaboratively.
The British Retail Consortium last month signalled that ethical consumerism in the United Kingdom had grown by 15 per cent in recent years to reach 35.5 billion pounds in value, of which ethical clothing was the fastest growing category, with sales 71 per cent higher than that in the previous year.
“Why is it that when most Australian wool growers are ethical producers their story is not being told?” Mr Watts asked.
“For too long wool has been shackled in tradition - we have a product...