14 April 1993 Wool Science Chair at Lincoln an Investment in The Future

A Wool Board investment of $450,000 in a Wool Science chair at Lincoln University is one of a number of wool industry self-help measures, says Chief Executive Officer Dr Grant Sinclair.

Speaking at Lincoln today (14 April) where he confirmed the funding with the University's Council, Dr Grant said that wool had a good future but it was a future which the industry must itself shape.

"We can't continue to do things the way we did in the past, we can learn from the past but can't live in it," he said.

"We have to help ourselves to secure our own future and funding the Wool Science chair at Lincoln is one of the measures we are taking."

Education and the availability of university graduates was vitally important to the industry, said Dr Sinclair.

Investment in research was a second thrust vital to the future of the industry, he said, and the Wool Board would continue to provide leadership in this area.

Thirdly there was the area of promoting the use and benefits of wool and that was where the bulk of the board's money was spent. For too long everyone had taken it for granted that urban New Zealanders still understood the special qualities of wool and its importance to the economy, but that was not the case. For example, a survey among school children in Auckland had revealed that some did not even know what wool was.

Fourthly there was marketing. Selling the New Zealand clip. That was the activity on which all the others ultimately depended.

In funding the chair at Lincoln, Dr Sinclair said that the challenge ahead was to get top graduates into the servicing side of the industry.

"At the moment our best efforts in the wool industry are back on the farm, at the production end. There is now a tremendous challenge to our servicing section to match this and attract its share of the best graduates.

"A complete upskilling of the industry is vital, and we see the funding of the chair in Wool Science at Lincoln University as an excellent investment in the future."

In accepting the funding, Lincoln's Vice-Chancellor, Professor Bruce Ross, said it was very important that Lincoln should not lose its roots with the rural community and the industries with which it had been associated for so long. He said the funding deal with the Wool Board was very exciting and mutually beneficial to Lincoln and the wool industry.

The board's $450,000 funding is spread over a five-year period.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury