QUALITY sells – and at a premium price too – as the Galway Wool Co-op has proven over recent years at its annual ‘Meitheal’ in Athenry Mart.

This year’s annual of ‘top drawer’ Galway wool takes place in Athenry Mart on this Saturday, July 22, from 10am to 12 noon with around 100 farmers from the four corners of Ireland supplying product.

At a time when wool prices in Ireland are at a record all-time low – just 20c per kilogram – the sellers in Athenry on Saturday can expect to achieve a gross price of around €2.50 per kg.

Quality and traceability are essentials for the suppliers to the Athenry sale – the wool has to come from registered pure-bred Galway sheep while the product must also be clean rolled and dag free.

This year, the Galway Wool Co-op along with Enterprise Ireland are teaming up with Tallaght University to put a type of DNA stamp on their product using a process called spectroscopic analysis to verify the Irish authenticity of the product.

Over recent years, according to the Galway Wool Co-op, some woollen products – branded as Irish Wool – actually originate outside of Ireland either in the UK or the Southern Hemisphere.

Blátnaid Gallagher, Secretary of the Galway Wool Co-op, told the Farming Tribune that they were very excited about the traceability project now being undertaken by MiCRA team researchers at Tallaght University.

“This can only help to further enhance the uniqueness and quality of the product that we are offering the market. It really is an exciting development for our product – we will be in a position to guarantee that the wool is genuinely Irish and grown on Galway pure-bred sheep,” said Blátnaid Gallagher.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.