THE recent decision by the Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) to discontinue funding the Bred Well Fed Well workshops has baffled members of WA's sheep industry.
Sheep producers, stud breeders and industry bodies say they have been left confused following the announcement.
They say the decision was made with no consultation and came as a shock, even to the immediate partners involved in the workshops.
Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) was a co-funder of the workshops along with AWI.
MLA managing director Scott Hansen said MLA was yet to receive any formal notification on the decision.
Phase two of the program had only recently been formally committed to by both AWI and MLA in June this year.
Mr Hansen said to have the agreement revisited so soon after signing was not the ideal way to be doing business.
"A lot of negotiation went into getting those agreements put in place and set," he said.
"The program is very successful as far as MLA is concerned and for the continuation of the program to phase two was a logical and well supported approach from the sector.
"But if reports in the media are correct regarding AWI's desire to change focus then they need to be responsive to their own industry and its requirements, the same way we need to seek to be responsive to our industry."
Phase two of the agreement committed to 90 Bred Well Fed Well workshops throughout Australia.
Four of those workshops had already been completed and 31 had been booked.
Mr Hansen said MLA would be delivering those 31 that had already been booked.
"Growers who have seen a workshop advertised or who have registered for a workshop, they will still be delivered," he said.
"It is purely a questions of how we will deliver the remaining 55 workshops that were planned but were yet to be booked.
"That is something we are working on."
Wool Producers Australia chief executive officer Jane Brownbill said the organisation was looking for more detail on why AWI had made the decision.
"All in all it was a very popular workshop and we want to get a firmer idea on what prompted this decision," she said.
WAFarmers has made similar claims and its wool executive officer Lucy Radzikowksa said it was disappointing AWI made the call without actually speaking to the partners involved in the workshops first.
"Obviously we don't want funds pulled from any program that produces benefits to growers," she said.
"Before AWI pull out it would be good to know that there are strategies put in place to ensure that the amount that growers pay is still at a reasonable level."
Pingelly sheep producer Kane Page, who had previously attended a Bred Well Fed Well workshop, was frustrated by the lack of consideration from AWI.
Mr Page said the information gained from the workshops was imperative to the way sheep producers must run their businesses in the modern world.
"Farmers have to be involved in these sorts of days to be profitable and productive," he said.
"The decision has clearly been made by a select few in AWI who haven't thought it through.
"It is ridiculous, AWI has overlooked the value of these workshops from a primary producer's perspective."
As reported in the Farm Weekly last week, AWI was looking to license out the provision of the Bred Well Fed Well workshops.
But Mr Page said having educational programs funded by an organisation that every wool producer contributes to was a better option than running the programs from a commercial perspective.
"I can't see these workshops happening on a scale that is needed if funding is taken away," he said.
