New name with a new focus on wool
Federated Farmers’ Meat and Fibre industry group has had a name change, Miles Anderson says.
Federated Farmers’ Meat and Fibre Council has changed its name to Meat and Wool, reflecting its commitment to play a key role in a ramped-up sector wide collaboration on strong and crossbred wool initiatives.
The name change was approved by a unanimous vote of delegates from our 24 provinces, who have met in Wellington.
It’s actually a return to the name that was used more than two decades ago.
The wool element in the title was switched to fibre then when mohair from angora goats was on the rise.
We were looking to be inclusive.
But goat farmers now have their own section within our organisation and everyone wanted to get back to using the name ‘wool’ – with all its internationally recognised associations – super-warm, natural, sustainable, hypoallergenic and flameretardant. If you say fibre to the younger generation these days, they think you mean the fibre optics that speed up their internet connection.
And fibre has unfortunate connotations with microfibres and the growing problem of longlasting strands of synthetic fabrics that are ending up in our oceans and marine organisms.
You’d be forgiven for thinking the only thing happening with New Zealand wool at the moment – with the exception of merino – was that the bottom had dropped out of the market and all involved were sitting on their bums with fingers crossed the Chinese would start buying the volumes that they were two years ago.
Yes, prices for crossbred/ strong wool had halved since mid2015, but farmers and downstream companies are fighting hard to find new and innovative products to soak up the warehoused clip and spark revenues.
More than a dozen of these industry leaders put on displays at a Crossbred Wool Showcase that Federated Farmers organised and hosted in Wellington.
It was but a sample of what’s going on in the industry.
Among exhibitors were Interweave and Woolyarns Ltd, which produce high end, quality fabrics for export and supply Air New Zealand with transportation fabrics, meeting the highest flame retardant criteria.
Wright Wool supplies 100 per cent New Zealand wool to Paragon, which are based in Georgia - the heart of textile manufacturing in the United States.
Paragon has created a specialised knop used for home insulation.
They also export wool to Thailand and the Georgia based Delos Company to create custom carpets and rugs.
Other exhibitors were Wayby Wools, which specialise in cot underlays and yoga mats, and Stansborough, suppliers of wool garments used in movies such as the Lord of the Rings, and to highend boutiques in London and New York.
The federation’s Ruapehu president Lyn Neeson, who coowns specialist woollen blanket maker ShearWarmth, presented Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor with one of the blankets to pass on to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for when her baby is born.
The council gave the section’s executive the mandate to form a collaborative industry group to address crossbred wool issues.
We want to concentrate on the new collaboration group and how far we can get by working together to better tell the excellent story of strong wool’s qualities and potential to the wider community.
❚ Miles Anderson is the chairman of Federated Farmers Meat and Wool.