Strong support for wool grower accreditation program

According to SustainaWOOL program manager Dr Paul Swan, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on wool processors around the world, there has been continued demand for wool accredited under the SustainaWOOL program.

"We recently welcomed the 1159th successive grower member to SustainaWOOL and now have 32 post-farmgate partners, including a number of the world's top spinners and weavers," Dr Swan said.

"There is a lot more discussion about traceability, about provenance and about certification at brand and retail now, and I think COVID has accelerated that.

"Increasingly the retail trade and consumers care about traceability and sustainability and wish to work with growers who share that passion, our role as SustainaWOOL is to help connect the two."

About 10.5 per cent of the Australian auction offering in the 2020-21 selling season was from SustainaWOOL growers and Dr Swan said the volume was slowly growing.

"Our benchmark is roughly one in every ten bales of wool offered at auction in Australia is from a SustainaWOOL member so we punch well above our weight in terms of our numbers.

"And we know there is preferential demand among both domestic and overseas buyers for SustainaWOOL certified wool."

The SustainaWOOL Integrity Scheme was originally launched in 2015 by New England Wool Pty Ltd and its Italian shareholders, Reda and Vitale Barberis Canonico, to source high quality, sustainably produced wool from Australian superfine growers.

In 2019, the program was transferred to the Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX), and is now independently owned and operated by AWEX.

"As part of being a SustainaWOOL member, we have a grower declaration which covers 69 different farm practices, based around animal welfare practices, environmental impacts and traceability," Dr Swan said.

"We also take wool quality and the quality of clip preparation extremely seriously which is one of the unique features of our scheme.

"All SustainaWOOL bales must be prepared to a P-certificate standard by an AWEX accredited classer to be sold as SustainaWOOL-accredited.

"Since January of this year, we have certified the equivalent of more than one million kilograms of greasy wool, including yarns used for fashion knitwear retailed in Europe."

RELATED READING:

SustainaWOOL now offers three levels of certification, blue, green and gold, giving all wool growers the chance to participate in the scheme.

The SustainaWOOL blue standard requires annual re-certification and sheep must be mulesed with pain relief, while the green tier certification is for non-mulesed and ceased mulesing flocks only.

"About 44cp of our members are in the SustainaWOOL green tier while about 56pc of growers are SustainaWOOL blue.

"We are the only scheme in Australia that recognises some people still need to mules and we provide a pathway for those growers.

"Last year 7pc of our blue members ceased mulesing and moved into the green tier of certification."

In October 2020, the new gold accreditation was introduced with 11 members currently meeting the requirements. Sitting above the green and blue tiers, SustainaWOOL gold is the pinnacle of the scheme.

It is accessible only to those member growers who do not modify the breeches of their sheep and who do provide pain relief for tail docking and castration.

Unlike other tiers in the program, the gold accreditation requires an annual on-farm audit.

Another part of the gold accreditation involves full traceability back to the farm with the use of eBale tags and the WoolClip program.

"For SustainaWOOL gold members it is essentially about differentiating themselves as best practice growers," Dr Swan said.

"It also offers a great collaboration opportunity, with gold members actively involved in electronic bale tagging and e-declaration trials with AWEX and our broker and processing partners."

According to Dr Swan, after the challenges of 2020, the price and passed-in rates benefits for SustainaWOOL growers have shown positive signs of recovery so far this year.

"The data shows that SustainaWOOL green members typically receive about 2pc more for their fleece wool than received by non-members for equivalent specification wool," he said.

"For our blue members who still mules but use pain relief, they are currently receiving a premium of 1pc."

Dr Swan said another indication of recovering demand is the passed-in rates received by SustainaWOOL growers for their clip.

"One of the things we're really proud about in the scheme is that the passed-in rate for SustainaWOOL growers is generally 2pc below equivalent wool of the same category," he said.

"The results fit beautifully with the picture about price, it tells you there is preferential demand for wool that is certified as sustainable."

Based in Temora, Moses and Son was the first wool broker in NSW to become a supply chain partner in SustainaWOOL.

According to managing director Marty Moses, who is also an AWEX director, their company and some of their clients were involved in the program when it was operated by New England Merino and have transitioned across to the AWEX-owned scheme.

"Integrity schemes such as SustainaWOOL are now part of a really big push from the pipeline and consumers to know more about where the wool and garments that they are purchasing come from and how it is produced and managed," Mr Moses said.

"We're seeing clear economic evidence that there is more demand displayed by consistent premiums and much lower pass-in rates for growers who join an integrity scheme.

"SustainaWOOL has an advantage in that it is the only program designed for Australian producers allowing them to register the use of pain-relief during marking.

"When you look at the consistent premiums available, as a wool broker it would be remiss of me not to encourage our growers to be involved with SustainaWOOL.

"So much so, it has recently been added as one of our key performance indicators for our wool technical staff."

He said since 2015, the premium delivered for SustainaWOOL green members has ranged between 3pc to 5pc compared with other non-mulesed wool which was significant, particularly in the 19-micron and finer category.

With two owned and leased sheep and wool properties at Reefton and Quandialla, Mr Moses also markets his own wool clip through the SustainaWOOL program and is currently a green member.

He sells about 150 to 200 bales in the scheme, depending on the season.

"The drought knocked our numbers around but we are well on the way to rebuilding the flock," he said.

"Becoming a SustainaWool gold member is certainly something we would like to achieve in time."

For sixth-generation superfine wool grower Michael Taylor, Taylors Run, Kentucky, becoming a SustainaWOOL gold certified member was a natural progression.

Mr Taylor currently runs 1200 Merino ewes on his 750-hectare farm and is still rebuilding flock numbers after the drought. They produce 16-micron wool and have been non-mulesed since 2009.

With a strong focus on sustainability, livestock are rotationally grazed and the Taylor family has also established a fully integrated agroforestry program for shade, shelter, biodiversity and timber.

An early adopter of direct marketing, Mr Taylor has been involved in direct wool contracts with both Schneiders and Reda and was a founding member of the Ethical Merino Growers Co-Op.

He has been involved in the SustainaWOOL program since its inception and was recently awarded gold member certification. This year's wool clip will be the first sold with gold tier status.

"Being involved in these direct marketing groups highlights the importance of full traceability," he said.

"It provides authentication for where our wool comes from and how it's grown.

"We need to be able to show the world we are doing the right thing by our land, our animals and for our consumers."

Mr Taylor said being involved in the SustainaWOOL program had already delivered significant premiums for his fleece wool.

"We've been getting a premium that's anywhere between 5pc to 25pc above the market across our clip."