The Country
  • The Country home
  • Latest news
  • Audio & podcasts
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life
  • Listen on iHeart radio

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Coast & Country News
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Horticulture
  • Animal health
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life

Media

  • Podcasts
  • Video

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whāngarei
  • Dargaville
  • Auckland
  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Hamilton
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Te Kuiti
  • Taumurunui
  • Taupō
  • Gisborne
  • New Plymouth
  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Whanganui
  • Palmerston North
  • Levin
  • Paraparaumu
  • Masterton
  • Wellington
  • Motueka
  • Nelson
  • Blenheim
  • Westport
  • Reefton
  • Kaikōura
  • Greymouth
  • Hokitika
  • Christchurch
  • Ashburton
  • Timaru
  • Wānaka
  • Oamaru
  • Queenstown
  • Dunedin
  • Gore
  • Invercargill

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Country

Wool gets shorn from farming body

Maria Slade
Herald on Sunday·
6 Mar, 2010 03:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Sheep farmers voted to stop paying a wool and goat levy. Photo / Amos Chapple

Sheep farmers voted to stop paying a wool and goat levy. Photo / Amos Chapple

Farming industry body Meat and Wool New Zealand is to get a new name following a sheep farmers' vote last year to stop paying the wool levy.

From April 16, wool growers will cease to pay the levy on their fleece which has funded R&D and marketing efforts in their
sector for decades.

That means Meat and Wool no longer needs the "wool" in its name.

Chairman Mike Petersen said it hoped to unveil a new name at its annual general meeting in Te Kuiti on March 24. He could confirm that it would not be Meat New Zealand, the organisation's old name.

"It sounds more like a dating agency to me," he joked.

The body did not want to spend a lot of money on the process, and the new title would be "something that makes sense, that's simple and not costly to implement".

In a referendum last August, farmers voted to continue paying levies for sheepmeat and beef activities, but to discontinue their wool and goat meat payments.

As a result Meat and Wool New Zealand has had to make $6.3 million in budget cuts.

The decision was bad news for the fragmented wool industry, which is suffering from historically low wool prices.

Last week Meat and Wool and Federated Farmers announced they were joining forces to support wool industry rescue efforts. The collaboration follows last month's recommendations by the Wool Industry Taskforce, set up by Agriculture Minister David Carter.

The taskforce called for unity in the sector and the minister is to appoint an independent expert to work on forming a single industry body.

Federated Farmers meat and fibre chairman Bruce Wills said the taskforce release was "strategic plan number five" in the last 40 years, four of which had ended up sitting on shelves.

Petersen said Meat and Wool still collected a wealth of wool production information that may as well be used.

"We do a whole lot of work around sheep and beef farm profit forecasting, and of course we have to include wool in that because that's part of the income."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save
    Share this article

Latest from The Country

Premium
The Country

What Fonterra's $4.2b Mainland deal means for its farmers and future

30 Oct 04:00 AM
The Country

'Where's the help?': Clutha farmers count cost of devastating storm

30 Oct 02:50 AM
The Country

The Country: Miles Hurrell on Fonterra sale

30 Oct 01:00 AM

Sponsored

Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable

22 Sep 01:23 AM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from The Country

Premium
Premium
What Fonterra's $4.2b Mainland deal means for its farmers and future
The Country

What Fonterra's $4.2b Mainland deal means for its farmers and future

Each farmer stands to gain about $400,000 from the capital return.

30 Oct 04:00 AM
'Where's the help?': Clutha farmers count cost of devastating storm
The Country

'Where's the help?': Clutha farmers count cost of devastating storm

30 Oct 02:50 AM
The Country: Miles Hurrell on Fonterra sale
The Country

The Country: Miles Hurrell on Fonterra sale

30 Oct 01:00 AM


Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable
Sponsored

Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable

22 Sep 01:23 AM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP