Wool harvesting, protecting the national flock and stakeholder engagement are three key challenges facing the wool industry.
Australian Wool Innovation board director Don Macdonald told growers at the Balmoral Merino Sire Evaluation field day recently that wool production had fallen from about 900 million kilograms in 1968 to about 300 million kg today.
He said there were a lot of positives about the future of wool and people were happy with prices
However the level of the national flock was a concern with production year-to-date running 13.7 percent below the previous year.
"The drought in our area (Dubbo) has seen production fall 30pc so far this year - seven months," he said. We are concerned about what's going to happen next year," he said.
"The way that we rebuild that flock is through continued improvement of productivity, research in genetics and engagement with all people in the pipeline."
Mr Macdonald said the Merino Lifetime Productivity project would play an important part of addressing the challenge.
With the wool levy falling from the current 2pc to 1.5pc from July 1, production levels needed to grow to maintain funding as the industry couldn't rely on prices always staying at current levels, he said.
A strategy forum earlier this year discussed a 10 year plan to prioritise activities that would benefit the industry in 10 years time.
Mr Macdonald said engagement with younger woolgrowers, embrace more modern technology, what projects were best and where should the levy be spent.
He said prices couldn't stay high forever and that was why the company built up reserves to protect current budgeted projects.
The board had also decided to continue with the program of projects in the pipeline, and draw down on those reserves for the next three years.
The best way to keep wool prices high was to keep marketing and to lift production.
Mr Macdonald said sustainability was a great story for the wool industry.
The wool industry was in an enviable position but needed to back that up with provenance, the story about where and how wool was grown.
"People in the pipeline will be looking for stories because the new generation were looking for that.
Young people were looking for a story so they could feel good about their purchases.
