Some have fame and others card wool. The Spanish proverb is very useful to illustrate the reality. But if we talk specifically about wool, this expression is useful to describe the current situation that this sector is experiencing, which is not going through its best moments, even if Spain is Europe’s largest producer after Britain leaves the European Union.
In fact, there was a time when Spain dominated the market for this natural fibre from sheep farming. In the late Middle Ages, there were already antecedents of this livestock industry, but From the 15th to the 18th century, Spanish Merino sheep wool became a reference throughout the world.being the most sought after by manufacturers and supplanting the English competition.
However, in recent decades, this material has been replaced by synthetic fibres, which dominate almost all manufacturing production, with a market share of around 70%, while wool barely reaches 1%. A sad misfortune for one of the most deeply rooted crafts in rural areas, which In eminently agricultural and livestock-raising regions such as Castilla-La Mancha, it is driving this sector to near extinction..
This autonomous community is the third in production in Spain, with around two million kilograms per year. But in recent years, sheep farmers in Castilla-La Mancha have accumulated more than four million kilos of wool on their farms, without anyone taking care of it. He has complained about it on several occasions. Asaja Castile-La Manchawhich has put forward proposals to provide an urgent solution to this surplus, as well as other measures to “transform a waste product with no commercial value at present into a useful and sustainable resource”.
Due to the low profitability and low demand for wool in recent years, breeders are facing serious storage problems, possible sources of parasites and difficulties in managing these wastes in their farms. A situation that, according to the actors involved, can be resolved in the near future. This was confirmed during the meeting that the General Director of Agricultural Management, Joaquín Cuadrado, held with representatives of Asaja and APAG Guadalajara, in order to transfer this issue to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
Waiting for a possible solution is also Ramon Cobo Zarcoheir to ancestral knowledge related to wool. This 38-year-old man from Cuenca, descendant of a family of breeders and weavers from Mota del Cuervo (Cuenca), has been transporting fleeces since he was a child, together with his father, in a family project that has more than a hundred people. years of history. In fact, according to what he tells ABC, his company “is the only one at the national level that covers the entire production process and is one of the last three laundries that remain in Spain, along with two others in Castilla y León.”
38 years old, originally from Cuenca, descendant of a saga of ranchers and weavers from Mota del Cuervo (Cuenca)
This romantic, survivor of a declining tradition, attributes the current situation to “mismanagement and a terrible strategy” at the commercial level. “Wool, which was an important economic resource for our country, has lost all value and dignity in the last 30 years with the introduction of synthetic fibers,” says Ramón, who regrets that regrets that all production comes from third countries – China, Taiwan and others in this environment –which has suffocated the rare and small local producers.
He therefore asks for public aid and that the sector in which he works does not pay the same taxes, but less, than companies that produce synthetic fibers, “which are also more polluting for the environment,” says this weaver from Cuenca. What he considers “unfair and disadvantaged competition” that has left wool “in one of the worst moments of its history.”
A situation that was already bad, but which worsened two years ago after the pox epidemic in Castile-La Mancha, which forced China, the main importer of wool, to close its doors to raw materials from this region, he explains to this newspaper. General Director of Agricultural Management, Joaquín CuadradoThe department he heads has been looking for some time for alternatives to the accumulation of wool in livestock farms.
Possible alternatives
First, in the short term, Joaquín Cuadrado is in talks with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to, with the aim of revaluing this raw material and, in accordance with European regulations, converting excess wool into compost, as is already the case in other places. And, in the medium and long term, according to reports, The Government of Castilla-La Mancha is working on two research projects.
One of them is the one made by the Clamber group from Puertollano, in collaboration with the Regional Institute for Agri-Food and Forestry Research and Development (Iriaf) and the University of Castilla-La Mancha, to transform it into organic fertilizer through hydrolysis, a chemical reaction that uses water for its decomposition. And on the other hand, an innovation project is being prepared, with the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Cordobafor other alternative uses such as felt, insulation in construction, substrate in agriculture or pellets. In short, an example of circular economy.
