A levy could help the wool industry tackle the challenges ahead, Federated Farmers spokesperson Toby Williams said. Photo: RNZ/Carol Stiles
Federated Farmers is asking the government to consider bringing back a wool levy, 14 years after farmers booted it out.
Its wool spokesperson and Gisborne farmer Toby Williams told the Primary Production Committee on Thursday, a levy was the only way to pull the industry out of what he called a state of flux.
Williams said the industry lacked unity and leadership in the face of desperately low wool prices for growers, and a levy now could help unify a fractured industry to tackle challenges ahead.
"We need the industry to be together, but as it is, we're siloed," Williams said.
"It needs to go back to a levy-based model, but we need to pull everyone together."
Wool products were not able to reach their full potential of being high value without large-scale local production - and instead, growers were selling low-cost raw product in hunt of returns, he said.
"Manufacturing New Zealand would be brilliant, wouldn't it?" Williams said.
"We should be looking to utilising our own products, like we do with with dairy and kiwifruit, and driving more value.
"We've got lots of people doing little things that are adding a little bit of value to a little bit of people, but we need to be thinking about the whole sector.
"I think definitely the government's got a role to play in helping to bring manufacturing back. It's great, it's jobs, technology, our IP [intellectual property]. It's incredible."
The government announced in March it would invest $4.5 million towards government-industry partnership, Wool Impact, to drive revenue for the environmentally-friendly fibre.
While there may be promise in manufacturing New Zealand wool carpet for export, the future of carpet maker Bremworth’s cyclone-damaged Napier plant is still unclear - which has resulted in the company offering voluntary redundancies and redeployment opportunities for a number of staff.*
There was also uproar this week about a Ministry of Education decision to fit out hundreds of rural schools with US-made nylon carpet, instead of wool.
William said it was disappointing, and suggested a goal of phasing-out all plastic flooring nationwide by 2030.
*Editor's note: This story published on 27 July, 2023, was updated on 28 July, 2023 to clarify the information in this sentence.