MORE than three quarters of Australia’s wool bales will be incorporated into a new platform – Australian Wool Traceability Hub – within 12 months, as industry bodies lead the way in the initiative.

The new hub is designed to facilitate reliable and efficient transfer of information from wool growers to the wool trade.

The initiative will also help streamline biosecurity processes, with the database able to give precise locations of wool and a movement log which can be provided to the Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) upon request.

The purpose of the Hub is to strengthen the confidence in reliability and efficiency of the transfer of key information within the Australian wool supply chain from wool growers to first stage processors.

When fully operational, the Hub will initially focus on helping the industry respond to potential biosecurity threats.

A vital part of managing any Emergency Animal Disease (EAD) outbreak is being able to track and locate any wool which may have come from contaminated sites, ranging from the farm to the wool store, dump or shipping containers and all the way to processing locations

Elders state wool manager, Lachie Brown said the initiative was largely based around biosecurity and ensuring an outbreak wouldn’t affect the industry across the board.

“It was initially set up in reaction to the potential for a foot and mouth outbreak that hit the headlines a few years ago in Indonesia,” he said.

“It involves the concerns about biosecurity and the ability to identify where products originate from.

“We have some traceability, but not a full scope across all properties.

“In reaction to that, industry got together and put this together to help isolate affected products and allow other products to continue.”

The opt-in program also allows wool growers to see where their wool ends up and also allows buyers to see what area the product is from.

“They are still working through that (registration) process, but all requisites and regulations around privacy are all adhered to,” he said.

“The idea is we see a bit more transparency across the chain and build that knowledge base.

“It will encompass all types of wool that is exported – crossbred, merino types across the board.”

With many locals not yet apart of the new initiative, Mr Brown said over the coming months, processes will make it easier and more efficient.

“It has only been launched in the last few months with information sessions for wool growers, so I don’t think there has been much of an up take locally yet,” he said.

“It is all an industry collaboration and there is no extra costs.

“It will evolve, it might be a bit clunky to start with, but once we get processes up, it should be pretty smooth.

“There are QR codes on bags, but we are tracing it from growers through to brokers with bale numbers and individual test certifications.

“All that is tracked anyway, so it is just formalising it.

“There is more information online and for more in-depth detail, talk to their brokers.”

The initiative has had input from Wool Industries Australia, the Australian Wool Testing Authority (AWTA), Australian Wool Innovation (AWI), the Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX), the National Council of Wool Brokers of Australia, the Australian Council of Wool Exporters and Processors and WoolProducers Australia (WPA).

The nation’s testing authority, the AWTA, will manage and operate the hub on behalf of the industry, overseen by WIA.

Endeavour Wool Exports’ Phil Schultz said diseases posed a huge risk to local industry.

“Foot and mouth is a huge risk for us in Australia, because we are clean and green at the moment, it is not to say it won’t come through,” he said.

“We have traceability, we test in Hamilton, every bale that is exported does get tested and AWTA are the ones testing the bales.

“We could have it on a boat within two weeks, and so to trace it back and minimise the outbreak, things can move very quickly.”

Mr Schultz said traceability was critical to containing biosecurity outbreaks.

“I remember doing something a few years ago about biosecurity, one of the biggest issues was you could trace it back, but the spread would happen relatively quickly through transport and so forth, and once you deliver the wool, then it contaminates the bigger wool dump,” he said.

“Everyone was really concerned about that outbreak in Indonesia, with meat products coming into the country.

“The foot and mouth disease can be in the wool, along with trucks and tyres etc.”

As at March 2024 the national PIC adoption rate is about 50 per cent, which is significantly lower than what is required to adequately deal with an Emergency Animal Disease (EAD) event.

Moving forward, the goal is to receive a 100 per cent, with about 90 per cent expected to be part of the program by July 2025.

A higher adoption rate which will enable a rapid response to help minimise the inevitable trade disruptions that would follow in the event of an EAD incursion.