1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:01,800 Speaker 1: The push is on for wool and to get it 2 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: back to its glory days. Industry leaves got a bunch 3 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:05,960 Speaker 1: of workshops coming up next week in an attempt to 4 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:07,920 Speaker 1: drive up value. You know how I feel about wool. 5 00:00:08,200 --> 00:00:10,200 Speaker 1: Strong wall now makes up just one to two percent 6 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:13,120 Speaker 1: of gross farm income compared with nearly sixty five percent 7 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:15,280 Speaker 1: in the eighties, if you can believe it. Richard Dawkins 8 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:17,800 Speaker 1: fed Farmer's Wool chairers. Well, there's Richard morning to you. 9 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:19,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, good morning, Mike. 10 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 1: The wool story, it's many and varied. I mean, strong 11 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:24,800 Speaker 1: is not marino, is it? 12 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:30,160 Speaker 2: No? I know, So there's different different classes of wool. 13 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 2: Marino there's certainly worth a hell of a lot more 14 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:36,199 Speaker 2: than what we call mid micron and strong wool. But 15 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 2: strong wol was certainly the most common in New Zealand. 16 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:40,839 Speaker 1: So what are you trying to do with strong? And 17 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:42,440 Speaker 1: do you hold out hope? 18 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 2: Oh? Look, there is hope. So there's really good collaboration 19 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:50,559 Speaker 2: going on between government and industry and various initiatives just 20 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 2: to drive a bit of value back into the wall 21 00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 2: and also looking at that whole supply chain, the value chain, 22 00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:58,760 Speaker 2: trying to return value to the farmer. 23 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:01,560 Speaker 1: What do you do? I mean specifically, what can you do? 24 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:03,200 Speaker 1: I mean, I think about we talked about things like 25 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 1: Bremworth and they said we're going to do wool carpet, 26 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:07,720 Speaker 1: and you talk about Winston Peters and there's only wool 27 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:09,720 Speaker 1: carpet in Parliament. Stuff like that. So people are trying 28 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:13,240 Speaker 1: to help. Is there a genuine future for strong wool 29 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:14,679 Speaker 1: and carpet and stuff like that. 30 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:18,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, so there's various channels. I mean, carpets are one 31 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 2: end uce, but there's higher value end uces as well, 32 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:26,040 Speaker 2: And so the likes of Wall Impact are looking at 33 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:30,800 Speaker 2: those high value customers and building relationships. Internationally, Ron's is 34 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:34,600 Speaker 2: looking at new technologies, and campaign for Wall are looking 35 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:37,160 Speaker 2: at promotion. So there's a lot going on in that 36 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:39,360 Speaker 2: space and we're just trying to have a few workshops 37 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:40,640 Speaker 2: and explain that to growers. 38 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:43,319 Speaker 1: Does everybody know about the tennis balls at the US Open? 39 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 2: We sorry, Mike, you just cut out there. 40 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 1: The tennis balls at the US Open. Do you realize 41 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:52,360 Speaker 1: the tennis balls that the US Open and made from 42 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 1: New Zealand strong wool? 43 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 2: Yeah? I saw and saw that that article and actually 44 00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 2: a few years ago I was told tennis was becoming 45 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 2: a compulsory sport in the Chinese curriculum, and we were 46 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 2: to expect this bump and strong wall values. But yeah, 47 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 2: fair to say that never came to fruition. 48 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:11,919 Speaker 1: Mike, No, exactly. Well, good luck with the workshops and 49 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:13,560 Speaker 1: we'll follow with a great deal of interest. You know, 50 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 1: I'm a fan of it all. Richar Dawkins, who's the 51 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:17,079 Speaker 1: Federated Farmer's Walls here? I thought he hadn't heard about 52 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:19,440 Speaker 1: the tennis ball story. There. For a moment, I thought, 53 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: how can you be in strong wool not known about 54 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:22,960 Speaker 1: the tennis ball story. 55 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 2: For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to 56 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,040 Speaker 2: news talks. It'd be from six am weekdays, or follow 57 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:31,639 Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio.