WA SUPERFINE wool producers are outraged and confused by the Agriculture and Food Department's decision to close the Garment Laboratory on December 31 leaving invaluable wool promotional opportunities on the Australian Oprah Winfrey Show hanging in the balance.
A meeting was held at the Curtin University-based laboratory last Wednesday where the WA Superfine Wool Growers Association was advised by disappointed laboratory staff of the impending closure.
In September the Agriculture and Food Department director of livestock industries Kevin Chennell assured woolgrowers the laboratory would remain funded by the Government until June next year in order for those involved with the program to look into commercialising the venture and Mr Chennell has again claimed the laboratory will remain open until June 2011.
"It has been a great project and we're committed to funding it until June next year," he said.
"There is enormous potential to privatise the venture and we're in negotiation with a number of private entities at the moment."
WA Superfine Wool Growers Association secretary and Kojonup superfine wool producer Geoff Fysh attended the small meeting last week.
"We were told that as of December 31 there'll be no contracts renewed, the doors will be shut and that's it, the end," he said.
"We had to hear it from the staff at the Garment Laboratory and not Kevin Chennell himself.
"Not only does it have severe implications for us but Perth designer Liz Davenport needs access to the laboratory's Shima Seiki machine within that time frame because she is creating four woollen items for when Oprah Winfrey comes to Australia.
"Audience members at the Oprah shows will be given four items each made of WA wool and now Liz is thinking, how's it going to happen?
"She's also got a place in G'Day USA promoting Australian wool and she's developing a direct relationship with the Garment Laboratory in terms of the work they're doing, now it's all going to disappear.
"How and where will all of these designer women's garments be made if not in the laboratory using the Shima Seiki machine?"
At the meeting senior researcher Associate Professor John Stanton, who played a significant role in establishing WA's Garment Lab, the department's wool desk market development officer Sara Pieruzzini, Design for Comfort designer Amy Clarke, vice president of the WA Superfine Wool Growers Association David Lindsay and secretary Geoff Fysh discussed the closure.
"Without this job and sponsorship, the operator of the Shima Seiki machine, Sooyung Yang can't stay in the country," Mr Fysh said.
"When she goes her expertise will disappear and that machine is virtually valueless because it takes two years to learn how to use it.
"There are people who would like to get their hands on the machine but they won't be able to operate it without her.
"Market research has shown that companies like Benetton, Patagonia, Ice Breaker and Timberland can see the value in having their garments tested and getting figures back on them but because this is really unique kind of work they needed to find out more about the program over a longer time frame.
"Now these kind of commercial prospects aren't going to happen because the doors will shut and there's no time for them to learn about the work done by the lab.
"The Government is thinking it's outside its philosophy to fund research and development in the agricultural sector.
"It will say research isn't the Government's business and that being involved in commercial enterprise isn't within its role either.
"What hasn't been considered is that it is having a direct impact on our commercial operation because we're starting to build these direct relationships with designers and it's increasing.
"It had the potential to increase demand for WA wool because what it means is instead of going to the auction room every shearing and saying please can I have a little bit more sir, we can now, well could have, started to actually maintain ownership further down the chain and actually value add and liaise directly with designers.
"With the figures and next to skin results coming back from the testing, designers could come back to us and say this is the kind of wool you need to grow to create this sort of effect.
"It was turning out to be an excellent symbiotic relationship and now we feel as though just as we were starting to get the ball rolling it has been taken out from underneath us."
The program worked with superfine wool growers who voluntarily contributed spare fleeces each year at shearing.
Last year the donations made up 120kg and it was that wool which was processed and given back to the young designers to make their final garments in this year's Design For Comfort project.
It was those garments which were modelled on the catwalk at the Perth Fashion Festival's a touch of wool III in Forest Chase last month.
The excess yarn from the project was made into scarves and sold in retail stores throughout Perth.
"I've been taking them to shops as samples and the shops want more," Mr Fysh said.
"They think they'll sell really well and the proceeds from those sales are going to fund this year's processing collection."
Much of the wool produced at Mr Fysh's Kojonup property, under the brand Ronneby Park has already been accessed by Italian designers and many of the garments will be showcased in the 2011 Milan Fashion Festival.
"If it wasn't for Design for Comfort there's no way in the world we'd know where to begin and Sara has helped us all the way," Mr Fysh said.
"We need access to the Shima Seiki machine and we need access to people like Sara whose connections are invaluable.
"It's not just superfine growers who will benefit, a few years ago there was Merino Soul which used broader Merino wool and Italian designers created a whole line from WA wool.
"Imagine the kind of things WA woolgrowers could get involved in if they weren't closing the doors."
Mr Fysh believed the Government thought of the agricultural industry as irrelevant.
"Agriculture and Food Minister Terry Redman is a National Party representative for heaven's sake," he said.
"It's just so frustrating."
In the a touch of wool III outline Agriculture and Food Department director general Rob Delane wrote about the scientific innovation and market opportunities for WA wool via the program.
"This year a touch of wool III sees collaboration with the West Australian Superfine Wool Growers Association to assist with the integration of work by farmers, scientists and designers," Mr Delane wrote.
"The initiative has generated a better understanding of the supply chain requirements for WA farmers, while strengthening processors' appreciation of quality WA wool."
Mr Fysh described claims that all the research needed had been done as "totally spurious."
"We're now wondering if we can form a management group and ask for the use of the Shima Seiki machine for three years at no cost and for them to sign Sooyung's visa so she can stay in Australia," Mr Fysh said.
"We want to see if we can put everything on hold for a bit and buy ourselves some time to figure something out.
"If we can't get enough pressure exerted to get the laboratory funded how it was, the whole $300,000 a year, then that's our fallback position and we haven't got long because Sooyung has got to leave the country next month."
Mr Chennell admitted that a December 31 deadline was "in the pipleline" but the department had worked to extend the laboratory's date of closure.
"What's been done in that laboratory is brilliant but the department has two main priorities, the extensive dry we've been experiencing and the dwindling sheep flock in WA," he said.
"I just don't have the funds to keep everything."
