DUBBO – An Australian wool brokering firm says it will no longer partner with growers that don’t have a National Wool Declaration (NWD) as it looks to encourage more transparent trade agreements.
An NWD is voluntary, disclosing information that cannot be objectively measured such as a sheep’s mulesing status or whether it’s at risk of medullated or dark fibre contamination.
The boss of Dubbo-based wool broker Macdonald & Co., Don Macdonald, insists more stakeholders in Australia’s market should aspire to have more traceable operations. “Nationally only around 70 per cent of the clip is NWD compliant but we think the advantages for Australian wool are obvious and we urge other wool brokers to pick up the baton and work toward full industry compliance,” he said.
