Last week I flew out to Calgary for Canadian Wool Conversations. Hosted by The Campaign for Wool Canada, it brought people from across the wool sector for a day of conversations, presentations, panels and roundtable discussions on the challenges and opportunities facing Canada's wool sector.
Building a resilient wool ecosystem in Canada and North America was a major focus with farmers, mills, makers, researchers and small businesses like WoolGrown all contributing to the conversation.
A thread that ran throughout the conference was a mindset of needed change. With new and specialty applications for wool emerging, a clearer picture of how our wool industry operates and exactly what type of wool we have becomes more important.
What if we knew more about the wool we have on hand? And what if wool was part of on-farm data collection? Producers recording flock performance, adding a few fibre measurements and observations could change how wool is valued.
Continued conversation and pilot projects relating to data collection and how it's used could start to tell the story of Canadian wool as a whole.
Over time, that shared picture could also guide breeding and management choices, strengthen grading and quality sample programs, and make a clearer case for investment in domestic processing and goods. Good data doesn't just describe the wool we have, it helps us build the markets to use all of it.
Wool’s value may be easy to overlook when you’ve never worked with it or experienced its many qualities. Few Canadians have held a raw fleece or seen what happens between shearing day and a finished product, and that gap keeps wool in the shadows.
Hand someone a scoop of wool pellets or a skein of yarn at a market or community event, and the curiosity is immediate: whose sheep did this come from, how was it made and how does it help my garden? Through hands-on experiences and education, wool has the ability to become a material that ties together local food production and locally made textiles and products, connecting markets and forming new partnerships. Local resources provided by guilds and Fibreshed are a great way to start connecting and staying up to date with local fibre in your area!
Thank you to The Campaign for Wool Canada and everyone who joined the conversation in Calgary.
I'm looking forward to keeping it going here in Ontario.
If you're curious about what Canadian wool can do in your garden, browse our socials, the shop and why wool to find out more!
Written by Lindsey Weber, founder of WoolGrown
WoolGrown turns Ontario sheep wool into garden products, including wool pellets, felt and mulch.