00:00A mob on the move and the electric hum of shearing.
00:10It's spring in the northern tablelands of New South Wales.
00:13But for Dave Garrahy, who's been working in shearing sheds across New England for close
00:18to 40 years, this season isn't unfolding as hoped.
00:24Work's drawing up really fast.
00:25I've talked to a couple of contractors in the last week who are all on the same page
00:29as what I am.
00:30They've noticed their work's drawing up, things are getting quieter, and the volume of work's
00:36not there.
00:37On the other side of Walker, Katrina Bloomfield has been crunching the numbers.
00:42In 1971, we were getting about $20 to $30 a head for our wool, and at the moment we're
00:51getting $50 to $60.
00:52So it's only doubled what we were getting in 1971, whereas a steel post, I think, cost
01:00$0.30 back then, and now they're $8.
01:05A stud and wool producer, she runs close to 8,000 sheep, and some cattle too.
01:12Wool prices for farmers today are close to where they were a decade ago, and the latest
01:17forecast suggests the amount of wool produced in Australia this year will fall by 10% to
01:23285 million kilograms.
01:27Jock Lorry is chair of Australian Wool Innovation, a company built from farmer and taxpayer funds
01:35to drive the profitability of Australia's export-dependent wool industry.
01:40At the finer end and the broader end, it's pretty tough at the moment, there's no doubt
01:43about that, and I think a lot of the sort of medium-micron wools that have got plenty
01:49of cut in them are still sort of reasonable but not good, so it's tough enough.
01:59It's midweek in Eurala, and AWI has chosen the new pub in town to host a Q&A for wool
02:05growers.
02:07With 60% of AWI's budget spent on marketing, and 40% on research and development, the meeting's
02:15been advertised as a chance to learn more about how AWI is spending its money.
02:21It's great to get a good roll-up in my local community, it would have been a bugger if
02:25only about 10 people turned up.
02:27Last year, AWI reported revenue of more than $60 million, committing about $30 million
02:34to marketing.
02:36Tonight is a chance to show off one of the company's new campaigns.
02:44At a cost of around $4 million, the commercial builds on the $7 million Wear Wool, Not Fossil
02:50Fuel campaign released a few years earlier.
02:54Half of AWI's research spend comes from taxpayers, but all of its marketing budget is funded
03:01via a farmer levy.
03:03Currently, it's set at 1.5% of the sale price that a grower receives for their wool.
03:09Growers vote every three years in a wool poll to set the rate.
03:13With the vote due next month, almost 45,000 wool producers are now being asked if they
03:20want to set the rate at 0, 1, 1.5 or 2%.
03:26Back at Katrina Bloomfields, shearing has wrapped for another year.
03:30Like a shrine to the fibre, the shed's kitchen room walls are adorned with posters of former
03:36AWI campaigns, albeit a little faded.
03:41Katrina Bloomfield is unsure if growers' levies are being well spent.
03:47I'm just not sure.
03:48The demand has been created.
03:50It seems to be that they spend an awful lot of money on marketing, but I don't think they
03:55sell any more of it.
03:57It's debatable whether they've done a good job or not.
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