Thoughts as we get into ram selling season. It’s that time of year again, ram selling season! Time to check your ram power and work out your requirements for upcoming joinings. The selling season has started in most states, and whether you’re chasing merino, maternal or terminal sires, there are plenty to choose from. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out this year, with a combination of lower sheep and wool prices, the season in most of the country being tough,

I was extremely fortunate to be selected along with Jack Grundy from SA to complete in the 2024 Ovinpiades Mondiales World Young Shepherd Challenge in France. The competition was essentially a Sheep Olympics for young shepherds to compete internationally. WoolProducers Australia approached the Peter Westblade Scholarship and Hay Inc. in February this year seeking alumni and graduates to represent Australia at the 2024 Ovinpiades Mondiales. Jack and I were selected and had the

The release of the May 2024 Sheep Producers Intentions Survey (SPIS) points to an ongoing decline in woolgrowers’ confidence in the future of the industry. WoolProducers CEO, Ms Jo Hall said “the SPIS results are indicating that grower sentiment in the wool industry has declined 24 points, down 37 points from the same time last year.” “Further, there are projected declines in both the breeding ewe and wether flocks in the coming 12 months with the breeding ewe flock expected

My name is Brett Smith & I am a Director on the WoolProducers Board as part of my role representing QLD woolgrowers through AgForce. I am involved with my family property at St George while also working for Elders as a District Wool Manager based out of Tamworth, where I reside with partner Tori & daughter Polly. Through my involvement with AgForce I have also been involved with a steering committee for a project AgForce has undertaken around evaluating Natural Capital for la

A parliamentary committee decision on Friday to give the go-ahead to the Albanese Government’s proposed ban on the live export of sheep by sea has been vehemently rejected by Sheep Producers Australia and WoolProducers Australia who said the decision was rushed, unprofessional and thoughtless. Sheep Producers Australia CEO Bonnie Skinner said the Inquiry into Export Control Amendment (Ending Live Sheep Exports by Sea) Bill 2024 was seeking to phase out an important supply cha

Last week a delegation from Vietnam, including members of the Nam Dinh province Peoples Committee and representatives of Cat Tuong Group visited Australia to promote investment opportunities. Cat Tuong Group is a real estate development company that has been tasked with development of the Aurora Industrial Park within am Dinh Province. The Aurora Industrial Park was assessed as a potential site for early-stage processing of Australian wool as part of the Agricultural Trade an

Hi, I’m Makaela Knapp, Western Australia’s (WA) Director for WoolProducers Australia and I have held this role for just over a year. What a year in agriculture and policy it has been! The biggest challenge for WA producers has been the announcement of the phase-out date for the live sheep trade, a critical component of our sheep industry. It has long been said that Australia was built on the sheep’s back and yet today agriculture often feels forgotten. We are increasingly h

The Federal Government has continued to demonstrate how out of touch it is with Australia’s sheep and wool industry by not delivering on an essential trade policy program for Australia’s multi-billion wool industry, according to WoolProducers Australia. WoolProducers had asked for a modest $2 million over three years to establish a Wool Trade Policy program to continue the trade expansion work that has been identified for the wool industry by WoolProducers in their ‘Ensurin

Today’s announcement by the Commonwealth has shown a complete disregard for our people and a lack of understanding and awareness of the current situation within Western Australia (WA). Sheep Producers Australia and WoolProducers Australia as the peak industry councils will continue to unite and fight against this ridiculous policy and fight for the people whose livelihoods and mental health are being destroyed. “What we have seen today is a government so removed from agricult

Last month I travelled to Ho Chi Minh City with Jo Hall to attend Saigon Tex, the largest textile trade show in Vietnam. Recent work undertaken by WoolProducers as part of a government funded Agricultural Trade and Market Access Cooperation grant (ATMAC) “Ensuring a sustainable future for Australia’s wool supply chain”, identified Vietnam, as a rapidly emerging hub for textile production. Vietnam is considered a potential key partner for trade diversification for direct trade

WoolProducers Australia (WoolProducers) proudly relaunched the Trust in Australian Wool campaign, a joint initiative by WoolProducers and Animal Health Australia (AHA). The Trust in Australian Wool campaign explains how the Australian wool industry has evolved to produce the best quality wool in the world”, said Ms Jo Hall, CEO of WPA. “Australian wool is the wool of choice for fine apparel and luxury garments; sought after by all processing nations due to its renowned qualit

Last week a delegation from WoolProducers Australia (WoolProducers), the peak organisation representing Australian wool growers, travelled to Ho Chi Minh City to launch the roadmap for early-stage wool processing in Vietnam in conjunction with attendance at the Saigon Tex 2024 textile exhibition. This marks a significant milestone in the economic collaboration between the two countries, especially for the textile industry. As part of a government funded Agricultural Trade an

Thank you for taking the time to look at our WoolProducers’ newsletter, we hope that you find some useful or interesting information in this month’s edition. This month we’ll discuss the ongoing debacle that is the Government’s proposed Biosecurity Protection Levy (BPL), which is a subject that we have written about previously. However, with Minister Watt seemingly hellbent on introducing this levy (more appropriately tax), on 1 July, 2024, it’s timely to provide an update. T

The SAFEMEAT Advisory Group (Advisory Group) has agreed not to endorse the draft NLIS Standards for Sheep and Goats (the Draft Standards) acknowledging that further work is required to achieve national harmonisation for the roll-out of electronic devices (EIDs). This decision was made following the stance taken by WoolProducers in late January to withdraw support for the mandatory roll-out and also not endorse the Draft Standards due to ongoing concerns with the process and

Last week, WoolProducers CEO, Ms Jo Hall, participated in an Australian cotton and wool delegation, on a visit to India, with the mission to strengthen ties between Australia's natural fibre industries and India's thriving textile sector. The delegation's journey began at Bharat Tex, a mega textile event inaugurated by the esteemed Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi. The event provided a valuable platform for fostering collaboration and exploring new opportunities.

It is a hot windy afternoon as I sit down to write this blog for WoolProducers. My name is Bradley Venning, I am a farmer from Wester Victoria and I have been nominated to the WoolProducers Board by VFF. I am involved in a second-generation family partnership with my wife and our three boys, my brother and his wife and their two daughters, while our dad and mum still help out when they can. We run a self-replacing superfine merino flock, retaining the weathers as wool cutters

Today WoolProducers are disappointed at the Albanese Governments attempt to rush through legislation for the imposition of a $50 million tax on Australian farmers, being sold as the “Biosecurity Protection Levy [sic].”. The proposed tax seeks to fill a $50 million budget black hole in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. WoolProducers General Manager, Adam Dawes, said “WoolProducers were one of the first grower groups to publicly oppose this levy, follow

This week, peak woolgrower representative body WoolProducers Australia are releasing the final reports of the Commonwealth funded project Ensuring a sustainable future for Australia’s wool supply chain – Phase 2. In 2021 WoolProducers successfully applied for an Agricultural Trade and Market Access Cooperation (ATMAC) program, to secure funding to undertake Phase 1 of Ensuring a sustainable future for Australia’s wool supply chain through trade risk mitigation. The Phase

After 19 months of advocating in the interests of Australian woolgrowers regarding the government-imposed decision to roll out mandatory electronic identification (EID) for sheep, WoolProducers are withdrawing their support for this process. WoolProducers Australia CEO, Ms Jo Hall said, “While understanding the importance of traceability in the broader context of biosecurity, WoolProducers have decided to withdraw our support for mandatory EIDs for sheep given ongoing concern

I have recently returned from a trip to Vietnam as part of the Domestic & Diversified Wool Processing Project Phase 2 (ATMAC 2) project. Work undertaken last year as a precursor to the ATMAC 2 project identified Vietnam as a priority market for the diversification of Australian wool trade. Vietnam’s strong projected textile sector growth, its reliability as a global business partner and its competitiveness and growing reputation as a producer of high-quality textile products

As part of the final CEO blog for the year, I would like to wish you all a happy, relaxing and safe festive season. The WoolProducers office will be closed from 20 December until 8 January, 2024, when we’ll return ready for a big year ahead. As always, this year has been a busy one for WoolProducers, so I’ll take this opportunity to reflect on the year that was and some of the issues that WoolProducers has both addressed and advocated for on behalf of woolgrowers, demonstrati

Welcome to my first annual report. The past 12 months have certainly involved more travel than I have ever done before. As I still have a farm to run, I have a saying regarding travelling and time management – “last in, first out”. Any form of livestock farming has certainly been challenging this year, with the announcement of the Live Export ban, crash in livestock prices and drought conditions across a large part of NSW/Qld and southern Tasmania. Wool has been at a constan

Heading towards the end of the year is not only a time to stop and spend time with friends and family, it’s an important time to reflect on the year that was, celebrate the achievements and reflect on the lessons learnt. Below you’ll read about some of the highlights from the past 12 months. 2023 presented a great number of issues for Australian wool growers, both opportunities and challenges. The work of WoolProducers continues to span and almost unimaginable number of areas

In last month's newsletter, we touched on my recent trip to Bangladesh and India in late October, along with consultants from Deloitte, as part of the Domestic & Diversified Wool Processing Project Phase 2. The purpose of that trip was to meet key government and industry stakeholders in both countries. Industry and government sentiment and strategic priorities both countries show that they can each play a part in trade diversification and trade risk mitigation for the Austral