PNW Wool Producers Cooperative

In late 2021, sheep wool producers came to NABC staff with concerns about selling wool in the PNW. The lack of processing infrastructure and the low price of wool had created a huge bottleneck, and a surplus of coarse sheep’s wool. Wool was piling up in barns and even ending up in landfills. With the support of the USDA’s Rural Cooperative Development Grant, and the WSDA’s Southwest Washington business development funding, NABC facilitated the formation of the Pacific Northwest Sheep’s Wool Producers Committee to solve this problem.

At this same time, an eager domestic coarse wool buyer was identified in the natural bedding company Holy Lamb Organics. The leaders at Holy Lamb Organics wanted to source local wool, but the infrastructure to buy wool at the scale they needed didn’t exist, and this limited their ability to do so.

The committee met monthly to discuss potential solutions. Early on, it was determined that, to solve this problem, scale is required. So a multi-state effort was necessary. The service area chosen was Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. A survey was distributed to sheep ranchers in these states to gauge interest in a wool producers cooperative and find out the types of wool and sheep being raised in this region.

The data collected from this survey informed the PNW 2024 Sheep’s Wool Prefeasibility Study. This study recommended the formation of a tri-state wool pool and the development of regional wool processing infrastructure. Next came the PNW Sheep’s Wool Producers Cooperative Organizational Development Plan. During the writing of this plan, it became clear that rather than focus on processing infrastructure development, which is being pursued by multiple other entities, this group would form an aggregation, distribution, and marketing cooperative. The coop will focus on creating a PNW wool brand, pooling wool in the tri-state area, shipping it to be scoured at an existing scour plant, and shipping it back to Holy Lamb for sale. This addresses the immediate need for moving stockpiled wool, and adding value to coarse wool for PNW ranchers.

In early 2026, the PNW Wool Producers Cooperative was officially incorporated. Board members include members of the Washington State Sheep Producers Association, Oregon Sheep Growers Association, and the Idaho Wool Growers Association. An operations plan is currently in development, and the cooperative hopes to begin operations within the year.