Study 'Disproves' Wool Unprofitable

March 17, 2006 -- New figures for the wool industry show the best growers are making twice as much money as the average ones.

Australian Wool Innovation admits it commissioned the research to generate good publicity but says on-farm results prove most growers are doing well despite low wool prices and drought.

Victorian agricultural consultant Graham Lean, who provided information about wool growers in his area, says criticism of wool growers has been unfair.

"There have been somewhat over-optimistic projections of returns from alternative enterprises to wool and overly pessimistic projections for returns from wool, and we haven't seen those in our farm benchmarking results, from real farm data," he said.

"And it's just become accepted mythology that wool isn't profitable, this study certainly disproves that."

Reprinted from ABC News Australia