Organic Wool: The New Golden Fleece in Australia?
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 09.10.07
It has oft been decreed that Australia rose to prosperity on the sheep’s back. Even today, half a century after those boom times eased, wool continues to represent about 6% of the gross value of agricultural production, and our sheep flock of about 107 million curly haired ruminants apparently occupy some 25% of Australia’s land mass. Yet organic wool seemingly only makes up 1% of this renewable fibre crop. Though international demand might succeed in pushing that higher.
In May this year the country saw its largest-ever feature sale of organic wool with 620 bales of certified and accredited organic wool sold. Another 200 bales are due to face the auctioneer this week. The incentive for graziers to embrace organic wool is the same as that attract food farmers. Better returns. Organic wool is fetching up to a 20% premium over conventional fleeces. Elders Wool Marketing Manager Michael Blake observed that organic wool needed to be treated as mainstream – such was the demand – rather than as a niche, one-off line.
While much of the eco wool coming up for sale has been sourced from the states of New South Wales and South Australia. That doesn’t mean it is isolated to those regions. Plevna Downs, in Queensland, has been running an organic merino sheep station for the past 10 years. ::Elders Wool, via EcoTextile.
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One of my biggest problems with treehuggers (especially in the design fields) is their accepted belief that wool and felt are totally great for our environment. Just because a material is easily renewable does NOT alone make it an ethically responsible product to use. The wool industry in Australia treats sheep horribly, to the point that there has been a proposed international boycott of Austrailian wool. Although this article is speaking of organic wool, which would be beter for the eco-system, it would not necessarily alleviate the suffering of the thousands of sheep. I wish treehuggers would start to consider hurting animals to be the equivalent of hurting "the environment". "In Australia, the most commonly raised sheep are merinos, who are specifically bred to have wrinkled skin, which means more wool per animal. This unnatural overload of wool causes animals to die of heat exhaustion during hot months, and the wrinkles also collect urine and moisture. Attracted to the moisture, flies lay eggs in the folds of skin, and the hatched maggots can eat the sheep alive. In order to prevent this condition, called “flystrike,” Australian ranchers perform a barbaric operation—mulesing—by carving huge strips of skin and flesh off the backs of unanesthetized lambs’ legs and around their tails. This is done to cause smooth, scarred skin that won’t harbor fly eggs, yet the bloody wounds often get flystrike before they heal" (Richard Yallop, Farmers Strike a Blowie for Long-Suffering Sheep).
"SmartWool, a company whose wool clothing we've featured previously, says it will pay New Zealand merino farmers a premium to end the practice of mulesing their sheep. ... SmartWool has said it will buy $NZ40 million worth of wool over the next seven years, but it wants its New Zealand suppliers to stop using mulesing by the end of this year." -TreeHugger entry, http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/10/smartwool_encou.php
This was written back in 2005, but I believe a few other green companies, in addition to SmartWool, will only buy organic wool from farmers that do not practice mulesing.
designer2 - It's the same in ANY industry. There are responsible producers, and there are others. Bashing treehuggers as blind green-washed consumers is a gross generalization. Treehuggers are among the most conscientious of shoppers: researching products and companies extensively before making purchases (thanks in part to the info TH shares). Just as Australia has wonderful, animal loving citizens - it also has some that are not so nice. But I wouldn't say "Australians hurt animals. " Nor would I say "Treehuggers disregard animal rights."
The point I hope you are trying to make is that not all wool (and maybe most), organic or otherwise, may be ethically produced, and it is up to the consumer to make responsible purchases.