Woolgrowers vote no confidence in AWI

Will the last woolgrower leaving AWI please turn out the lights.

The stampede is on to get out from under the dead hand of AWI's marketing regime. It started out with growers' groups forming to brand wool from districts and then further afield. Now whole states are opting out, first Tasmania, now the West Australian superfine growers.
Here at "Uamby" we're sending an application to join the New Zealand woolgrowers. They seem to know what they're doing when it comes to marketing.
FarmOnline reports that WA superfine woolgrowers and Primaries WA are looking to follow the Tasmanian wool industry plan to separate itself from the national clip by branding its Merino wool.
Primaries wool representative Matt Pedersen said they want to establish relationships with end-users of superfine wool and creating long-term specification contracts. "We're looking at trying to form partnerships within the processing chain, right through to a retail partnership," he said.
Quality assurance, animal welfare and product trace-ability are expected to be a positive flow-on from direct marketing.
"In return, the producers have a better idea as to what they're ultimately aiming to produce and know they will be rewarded financially for it."
Tasmanian agri-business company Roberts recently launched a marketing arrangement called Roberts Wool Link, aimed at increasing the sale of Tasmanian wool to key customers in Japan and North America.
Roberts MD Miles Hampton says, “The Tasmanian wool industry has a unique opportunity to separate itself from the Australian clip. It will develop itself as a branded product, instead of being viewed as just a commodity. Our work over the past three years has clearly established that there is value in product that is branded as Tasmanian wool.”
A number of major retailers in Japan and North America are marketing products branded as Tasmanian wool. Increasing consumer interest has them asking for an increase in the range. Roberts Wool Link aims to take Tasmania’s high quality wool to customers as raw wool, yarn, fabric, and even garment solutions. The Roberts Wool Link program will use a managed pool system in order to deliver certainty of supply to customers.