AUSTRALIAN Wool Innovation has research programs to control wild dogs, flies, worms and lice.
And after last week's annual meeting, don't be surprised to see elephants added to that pesky list.
Elephants is code for mulesing and other big problems.
Apsley grower and solicitor, Andrew Farran raised the question of what AWI was doing about the "elephant in the room", an oblique reference to mulesing, which until question time had rarely been mentioned.
"There is no elephant in my room," said chairman Wal Merriman who was not about to give oxygen to the issue.
However, his fellow director David Webster conceded there were really two elephants, a baby elephant (the mulesing issue) and a much larger elephant, being the concern about wool supplies.
Extension shake-up
USING departmental people and consultants to extend research results to wool growers hasn't been very successful, according to AWI chairman Wal Merriman.
This is why AWI is about to take another tack of inviting "30-40 young enthusiastic practical producers" to a forum in Sydney in a fortnight.
"We want to make heroes of them," Wal told C&C.
This forum will precede a producer strategic consultative meeting set down for December 18.
Earlier this year, AWI assembled almost 80 growers from around Australia to hear and discuss AWI's operational plans.
Wal said the forthcoming meeting would include growers, big and small and from range of demographics.
He said it wouldn't include those who attended the meeting earlier this year.
Kiwi power
WHILE Australia's brokers and exporters agonise over whether to auction wool in one centre, the Kiwis will be doing just that from March.
New Zealand's largest wool handler, Wool Partners International, has decided to close its North Island auction centre at Napier and to conduct all sales from Christchurch.
Wool Partners chief executive Iain Abercrombie said the Christchurch move for the bulk of the strong-wool clip would create efficiencies for buyers as well as reducing costs for the company because the majority of the auction clip would pass through one floor.
having the majority of the auction clip passing through one floor will produce a more accurate price signal," Mr Abercrombie said.
It sounds all very familiar.
