Introduction

The International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO), through its Australian affiliate, the Federation of Australian Wool Organisations (FAWO) has initiated a program to protect the reputation of Australia's premium Merino white wool by managing the risk of dark and/or medullated fibre contamination (see Dark & Medullated Fibre Risk Scheme).

The aim of this program is to:

• Enable Australia's white wool growers to promote their wool as such to buyers.
• Provide buyers and processors with a reliable and quantified measure of the level of dark and/or medullated fibre risk in sale lots. This includes contamination of white wool from traditional naturally occurring pigmentation, stains and from the new source, i.e. from contact with exotic breeds.

This is achieved by assigning a Dark & Medullated Risk Rating from 1 (best) to 6 (worst) to sale lots, with Ratings 1 and 2 suitable for white or pastel shade end products.

Adoption of the scheme by Australian wool growers is being encouraged by an industry committee established initially by FAWO and funded by AWI. Data on the adoption rate being achieved is collated and reported to this committee and to AWI by AWTA Ltd.

Adoption Rate :

A graph of the DMFR adoption rate, comparing 2006/07 with 2007/08, at the end of February 2008, is shown below and larger version of the graph is available on this link: DMFR Adoption Rate