The Australian Government has awarded the Australian Wool Exchange $180,000 to improve traceability in the Australian wool industry supply chain.
Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management David Littleproud said the grant would help streamline information in the wool supply chain.
"This funding will go towards a trial application of e-Bale, which is a way of uniquely identifying each wool bale through radio-frequency identification and QR codes," Minister Littleproud said.
"The application will work in tandem with the WoolClip system, which will capture the identity of each wool bale as it moves from farm to store to mill.
"The aim is to focus on filling the information gaps in the supply chain.
"When combined with the National Wool Declaration for mulesing status, and the SustainaWOOL Integrity Scheme, it will make it easier for buyers and consumers to know they are buying a quality, sustainable product.
"This will also enhance Australia's reputation as a responsive and responsible supplier of wool to the international market."
CEO of the Australian Wool Exchange Mark Grave said the grant was an opportunity to improve on-farm data capture.
"If this trial is successful, we should see better information flow from farm to mill, and hopefully less logistical errors in the system as we move towards more automation,"
Mr Grave said.
"This will also improve supply chain traceability and enable the rapid identification of wool bales, which can have a number of uses, including during a disease outbreak.
"We're very grateful that the grant will give us the opportunity to make life easier for woolgrowers and consumers alike."
For more details on the 14 successful round two projects visit the Traceability Grants Program website.
Fast Facts:
- The Traceability Grants Program supports industry projects that will enhance our agricultural supply chain traceability systems, including developing and trialing technologies that digitise information flow.
- The program also aims to provide an advantage for our exporters and to increase opportunities to export Australian commodities.
- The program is part of the Australian Government's Modernising Agricultural Trade agenda to support the target of a $100 billion agricultural sector by 2030.
- The Australian Government is investing $7 million from 2019-20 through to the end of 2022-23 in projects under the Traceability Grants.
