Future Woolscapes

The Future Woolscapes sub-program stimulated debate about the future of the wool industry in order to provide an insight into the challenges, threats and opportunities that lie ahead in 20 to 30 years' time.

The sub-program worked with woolgrowers and industry to forecast what impact emerging global trends such as population demographics, technological change, environmental, production and trade issues, would have during the next 20 to 30 years, and what the implications of these might be for the wool industry. Future Woolscapes has identified future options for the Australian wool industry and considers the impact of global change on its research and policy deliberations.

Areas investigated:

• The global market demographics: social and cultural drivers, globalisation, consumer preferences, food sources, competitive fibres.
• The potential of biotransformation: new wool based products, new production methods.
• Land use regulation: community expectation, grazing as an enterprise, global warming & climate change.
• Impact of new technology: biotechnology, nanotechnology, material science and organic machines. Impact on sheep and wool processing.
• Enterprise challenges: animal welfare, labour, OH&S, ownership structure.
• Terms of trade: cost of production versus price, critical production mass, investment.

Woolgrowers now have the opportunity to access and influence authoritative, credible information to look at the long-term and what they might do today. The sub-program developed a range of alternative scenarios and then identified and prioritised their strategic implications for the wool industry, especially in relation to research, development and policy. Papers on key issues 25-years-out, such as climate change, the role of biotechnology and nanotechnology, consumer preferences, competitive fibres etc. are now available.

Publications:

• Future Woolscapes: what might the world and the wool industry look like in 2030? (PDF 449Kb)
• Future Woolscapes - commissioned research papers (PDF 572Kb)
• Competitor trends in 2029 (PDF 356Kb)
• Project Dolly: impacts of the new technologies to 2029 (PDF 985Kb)
• Project Narelle: markets and consumer preferences to 2029 (PDF 182Kb)
• Social pressures likely to reshape Australia's woolgrowing industry over the next 25 years (PDF 380Kb)
• The potential impact of biotechnology on the wool industry in 2029 (PDF 1.41Mb)
• The potential impact of climate change on woolgrowing in 2029 (PDF 1.1Mb)
• Will wool growing be a viable business in 2029? (PDF 339Kb)
• Land and animal management 2029 (PDF 152Kb)