THE wool industry National Vendor Declaration has been thrown a lifeline by the Federal Government.
The Australian Wool Exchange, which administers the declaration, has received $164,750 from the Government's Promoting Australian Produce program.
Agriculture Minister Tony Burke this week said the grant would help AWEX develop a training and auditing program used by farmers to declare the mulesing status of their flocks.
Until this week, the future of the NVD was in jeopardy because of difficulty in raising funds.
While the NVD was seen as part of a package to appease overseas retailers regarding mulesing concerns, the declaration would only achieve credibility with an authentic on-farm auditing program.
Overseas retailers had indicated that 5 per cent of declarations needed to be audited for the program to have credibility
AWEX chief executive Mark Grave said the grant would allow development of the on-farm program over the next 12 months.
