Sheep spring back with promise of cosy future

The future looks bright for sheep farmers, Wool Board chairman Bruce Munro told the board's final annual meeting in Invercargill last week.

"Do not write wool off on what, admittedly, was a lacklustre performance through much of the 1990s," Munro said.

"It is my view that sheep offers as promising a future as any pastoral pursuit."

Munro traced steps taken since the McKinsey report, which has led to industry restructuring, the disestablishment of the board and its replacement by a new industry organisation, SheepCo, and commercial trading companies.

Wool growers had acted collectively on many issues for the past 100 years and, while the producer board model might be past its use-by date, Munro stressed the importance for growers to continue working together in the interests of the wool industry.

Referring to options wool growers will be given - to either accept shares in the new commercial companies the board has set up in line with the report's recommendations, or take their cash out - Munro urged growers not to be hasty and decide to take the money and run.

The reform process had resulted in new organisations that would be owned directly by farmers with greater accountability and he suggested farmers should become more actively involved in their management.

The future would require a continuing collaborative investment in creating new technologies and knowledge if the potential of the sheep industry was to be realised, Munro said.

That would require ongoing investment and input from farmers beyond the farm gate.

"The sheep is much more than just meat and wool," he said.

Future research and development would focus on sheep as protein factories producing a range of new and innovative products which would create new demand and uses for wool.

- NZPA