Memorandum submitted by Geoff Brown, Secretary,
Herdwick Sheep Breeders' Association, and Programme Coordinator
of the Cumbria Fells and Dales LEADER + Programme
1. The Herdwick Sheep Breeders' Association
was formed in 1916 as the representative body of the breeders
of Herdwick sheep, the native breed of the English Lake District.
It wishes to make the point that an agricultural crop very relevant
to the issue of creating a low carbon economy is wool.
2. Wool is an annually renewed resource,
removed from the sheep both for animal health and as one of the
crops from sheep production. Its use for thermal insulation of
various sorts can obviously make a positive contribution to reducing
energy use—and as is well known energy reduction can make
a serious contribution to the lowering of carbon emissions—and
substituting wool for other products in which a great deal of
energy is embodied is also beneficial.
3. Under the terms of the Statutory Order
of 1950 which established the British Wool Marketing Board all
owners of four or more sheep (with a small number of exceptions)
are required to register with the BWMB as wool producers. They
are then required to send all their wool to the Board for which
they receive a price determined for the breed or type of wool
as set out in the annual price schedule of the Board.
4. In recent years due basically to the
world over-supply of wool and various other problems, Herdwick
wool brings a return from the Board of 2p per kilogram. Effectively
this means, given the cost charged by the Board of transport of
the fleeces to Board are either in excess of 4p per kg from small
volumes and in excess of 7p per kg for large volumes, that there
is no economic return from sending in the wool. Shearing costs
are at least 50p per sheep, with an average sheep yielding little
more than 1 kg.
5. As a result the majority of Herdwick
is currently being disposed of as a waste product (for instance
by burning or burial on the farm) rather than by being used—with
consequent loss of this valuable potentially energy saving resource.
6. Breeders who are not prepared to take
this waste disposal route are actively seeking new uses for Herdwick
wool. As well as the making of blankets, throws, cloth etc some
people are looking at thermal insulation, plant mulch and many
other new uses for their raw material. (There are other very low
value wools which are also in the same position, eg certain grades
of Swaledale and Welsh Mountain wool.)
7. In so doing some producers feel that
they are not assisted by the legal requirement to send in their
wool to the Board and would prefer to have the unbridled ability
to add value to their own product, thus liberating their ingenuity
and their ability to innovate.
8. Farmers have been urged by for instance
the report of the Curry Commission on Farming and Food, to "add
value" to their products by going further down the food chain
(and we can add here by extension, the fibre chain) and engaging
in processing and marketing. As things stand at present the legislation
which set up the BWMB prevents this from happening and stifles
innovation occurring amongst producers.
9. The Association would greatly welcome
changes occurring in the operation of the BWMB which would allow
those producers who wished to do "their own thing" with
their wool to be able to do it. The BWMB's marketing system may
work well for producers of better quality wools but it is not
working for low value wools and is bringing about the loss of
a good resource, capable of making a contribution to sustainable
development. If people were liberated from the necessity of sending
their wool into the Board and could individually and collectively
find new uses for it, there would be considerable gain both to
the environment and to the rural economy.
10. There are resources within the sector
to assist with this task: for instance in the England Rural Development
Programme of Defra and in the LEADER + Programme. The latter is
the EU's Community Initiative on rural development. There are
over 50 plus LEADER + programmes with a mandate for rural innovation
which are run by local partnerships but managed by Defra in England
and the devolved administrations in the rest of the UK. (Details
of the LEADER + Programme are on the Defra website.)
11. The main need is that producers of low
value wools can control the destiny of their own product and be
given the unambiguous ability to innovate. It is far from clear
that the product development efforts of the BWMB are sufficiently
effective in raising the value of market returns to low value
wool producers with obvious detriment to the rural economy and
the environment. Amongst the producer community there is a wealth
of energy and initiative which can most usefully be set free by
allowing producers and groups of producers to have the option
of adding value to their own product.
1 April 2003
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