All hands to the wool agenda

DUNEDIN - A wool expert says poor prices are driving the industry to radical change and growers who sit on their hands will give others the luxury of setting the agenda.

An Otago director on the Wool Board, Walter Cameron, said growers had shown disinterest when told that independent consultant McKinsey was to develop a strategic plan to improve the industry.

As a "long-time" board critic, he could identify with growers' feelings but it was essential growers realised this project had evolved from a crisis, he said. The exercise was not a public relations production - it was about coming up with solutions, which could mean sectors of the industry having services cut down or terminated.

The project planned to avoid involvement of the board, which would provide only finance and choose an independent chairman for a stakeholders' group.

Mr Cameron said the board would abide by the project's recommendations, even if it meant handing the whole operation to the Wool Corporation.

He believed a 70 per cent acceptance was needed from the industry, including growers, brokers and exporters. The aim was for a solution with genuine grower support and McKinsey would have to consult the "grassroots" growers.

Groups such as Federated Farmers, area delegates, Merino New Zealand, the Romney Group, exporters and brokers would put forward representatives for the stakeholders' committee.

They would set the scope of the project, oversee it and be available to anyone wanting to make an input, which was the key to getting views from genuine woolgrowers.

Many people had ideas they believed would save the industry. Mr Cameron said their views were well-known and in most cases, rejected by woolgrowers.

The Wool Board, he said, was a very viable operation and growers had to become involved in its future.

- NZPA