The drop in the wool levy left the industry in disaray, but Bruce Wills believes it may have been just the impetus to push this sector into adopting long term change.
The support or otherwise of the proposed prospectus for funding Wool Partner International will be a strong indicator of farmer intentions.
With their new strategy Beef and Lamb NZ seem to have moved their field officers closer to the farmers, which will allow them to get a better feel what the important issues are on farm.
Money is and will be tight for some time in this sector, so any levies need to be targeted carefully and efficently to achieve the best return.
With hindsight, the rejection of wool levies just over a year ago has been good for the sector, says Fed Farmers Meat & Fibre chairman Bruce Wills.“Immediately after the vote there was concern things would completely implode but the outlook for wool is looking better now than it has for a long time,” Wills told Rural News. The ‘no’ vote was a wake-up call to all in the industry, not just Meat & Wool NZ (MWNZ), he believes.
Progress with the cross-industry Wool Group is painfully slow but it is making progress nonetheless, says Wills, who represents the federation on it. While he voted to retain the wool levy, the consensus it should cease was entirely rational, given farmers had invested hundreds of millions of dollars over several decades only to receive ever lower prices.
The fact Wool Partners International reports about 60% of suppliers are supporting its voluntary 3% marketing levy indicates that. “Maybe farmers are saying ‘if we’re going to spend on wool then we’d rather spend it on the market end than the production end’.”
As for MWNZ’s transition to Beef & Lamb NZ as a result of the ‘no’ vote, that’s probably been for the best too, he believes. “They’ve certainly reacted strongly to the vote. They’ve moved premises, dropped staff and pushed through a new strategy.
1 Comments
Like Bruces Wills I voted to retain the levy but in hindsight I agree that voteing it down was just the catalyst that the industry needed. Suddenly all the vested interests that had been sucking off the teat either withered away or sparked into action. There is some real potential here if we get it right as we have been told directly by overseas mills that they could pay more but they dont have too, such is the fractured nature of the wool selling system. My wool is actually fetching 40% more this year than last albiet from an abysmally low base. That much again and it will start to get interesting.
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