Bumper crowds and spotlight on wool industry at Henty

Championing the sustainable and environmental values of wool was firmly in the spotlight at the official opening of the 2022 Henty Machinery Field Days on September 20.

The opening day drew a record crowd for a Tuesday, keen to grab a field day bargain, enjoy the entertainment and meet old friends. 

The field days were officially opened by Mrs Joy Beames, CWA of NSW State President, in tribute of the organisation’s commitment to and advocacy for regional, rural and remote families over the past century.

Mrs Beames said CWA of NSW was founded due to a serious lack of available services for country people and continue to advocate for many needed services, including the lack of maternity services throughout NSW.

She expressed a personal passion in the Henty Natural Fibre Fashion Awards and encouraged all to purchase Australian produce. 

UK woolgrower and wool advocate Lesley Prior, who serves as a councillor on The Campaign for Wool with His Majesty Charles III as patron, also spoke at the opening.

Mrs Prior said the role of international coalition of wool producing nations aimed to promote wool use and champion the industry.

“Funding is from member countries but Australia as the largest producer in the world is the major contributor. From those who work with the Campaign, thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” she said.

“Getting that story out there costs money and without the support from Australian wool producers it just couldn’t be done.

“The Campaign started by the then Prince Charles 12 years ago partly because of poor wool prices but as a direct result of his concern for the environment.

“He started talking about wool’s sustainability and environmental credentials long before it became fashionable. And now in 2022 everyone is talking about it. 

“Wool is less than 2 per cent of world fibre usage with oil based man-made fibres dominating – all of us at the sharp end of the industry understand the value of wool, not only for its incredible versatility providing clothing and interior textiles such as carpeting but also for a whole range of other things you might not think about.”

Mrs Prior said sheep were part of a truly circular sustainable system with every kilogram of greasy wool sequestering 1.8kg of carbon dioxide 

She said Henty Machinery Field Days provided access to the tools for monitoring, measuring and managing wool enterprises.

“It is much easier to the journalist’s eagle eye if what you say backed up by accurate figures on fuel, fertiliser use or a natural capital report. Believe in their worth or not, they are the tools buyers are beginning to ask for.

“The more information we have, the more we can feed it through to national and international bodies like Australian Wool Innovation, Campaign for Wool and the International Wool Textile Organisation, all of which are punching well above their weight on our behalf against the oil based fast fashion industry.

“Needless to say, this is not just applicable to wool but meat-based agriculture is on the back foot at the moment, certainly from where I come from. 

“So, I say get out there, enjoy Henty and use it plan your own campaign against misinformation – the tools are out there to go and do the job.”

HMFD Chairman Nigel Scheetz said the cooperative was proud to be celebrating its 59^th year, achieving technological advancements and innovation our predecessors would never have dreamt of.

"After more than two years of high rainfall, exceptional commodity prices and Australian farmland set to record another year of double-digit growth, the outlook for the farming sector is bright,” Mr Scheetz said. 

“Sales of agricultural tractors in August were again strong up by 22 per cent on the same month last year and now 2.5 per cent up on the 2022 year to date. Agricultural export earnings have been forecast to climb to a record $70.3 billion in 2022-2023 – almost 50 per cent more than where it was 10 years ago.

“This all adds up to boundless career opportunities for our younger generation now heading to or making their way through university and tertiary education with aspirations of making agriculture their chosen career.

“HMFD has a strong passion for our future farmers. We are proud to see our younger generation keen to be a part of all areas of agriculture whether it be research, service or hands-on – we at Henty applaud every facet.”