[Sector focus] The collective revival of the wool industry in Haute-Loire

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Last modified by the author on 15/03/2024 - 11:47

[Sector focus] The collective revival of the wool industry in Haute-Loire

In the Pays de Saugues, the wool industry, a victim of competition, has virtually disappeared. Sheep farming is still very much present but wool is an underutilized resource, and is sometimes thrown away, as it has very little value for breeders.

One of the projects of Ateliers de la Bruyère, a social integration association in the area since 1992, has been devoted to the manufacture of wool felt since the early 2000s. This initiative has made it possible to initiate synergies between local people involved in the sector, notably Laurent Laine, which specializes in washing and mattress making. Thanks to this collaboration, Ateliers de la Bruyère and CERAMAC* responded to a call for projects from the Auvergne Region in 2012 to carry out an action research programme to create a Wool Cluster grouping together agricultural, industrial, craft, commercial, cultural and tourist activities. The work of research engineer J.B. Grison confirmed the potential for revitalizing the area that such a cluster would offer.

To accompany construction of the project, the inter-communal authority of the Pays de Saugues launched a call for tenders in 2013 and chose the economic development association Macéo.

Macéo used the PAT-Miroir method, based on the idea that any project provokes fears (“Peurs” in French), Attractions (objective benefits from the project recognized by all) and Temptations (personal stakes interfering with the collective project) and that it is preferable to take these into account before designing the action plan in order to anticipate the obstacles and conflicts that could jeopardize the project.

Ten people from the wool sector took part in five working days led by Macéo over a period of less than two months to co-construct the Wool Cluster project. On the basis of a common vision of the project, previously formulated by a technical committee and validated by a steering committee, and within a framework of secure creativity, the participants freely expressed the fears, attractions and temptations that might arise in the project with the various people involved.

They brought to light topics that needed to be integrated into the project (collective governance, the sharing of capital gain, quality issues, etc.). They worked to build consensus on these issues and drew up avenues for action. Finally, they structured these proposals into an operational action plan. Breeders’ fear that they might not be able to cover the cost of shearing was reflected in the action plan by work on the distribution of the added value of wool production. The statutes of the association respond to the fears expressed about the institutionalization of governance by guaranteeing collective governance and awarding the presidency to a private economic player.

According to Bruno Depalle, vice-president of the Wool Cluster and president of the Ateliers de la Bruyère, the initiative is a promising one as it is pragmatic and effective. Faced with the challenge of getting very different people to work together, this method makes it possible to base the project on solid foundations: a common vision, a co-built project, shared governance, and relationships of trust and empathy. It nevertheless requires a substantial amount of time to be invested by the group of participants.

Following this work, one of the first actions was to create the Wool Cluster association bringing together the various people involved in the sector: producers, processors, developers and public stakeholders.

The support also made it possible to finalize the response to the call for project PTCE **, enabling the Wool Cluster to obtain this label without receiving any funding.

* Centre d’Études et de Recherches Appliquées au Massif Central – laboratoire de géographie de l’Université Blaise-Pascal de Clermont-Ferrand (Centre for applied studies and research in the Massif Central - geography laboratory of the Blaise-Pascal University of Clermont-Ferrand)
** Pôles Territoriaux de Coopération Economique (Regional centres for economic cooperation)

Promoting, structuring and developing a local wool industry

The Wool Cluster is a collective territorial project: it mobilizes a variety of local people around different aspects from which a great number of actions derive. Running it is therefore a key point. But the Cluster's budget of € 5,000 is not enough to hire a group leader, and so project management and implementation depend on time invested by each member.

Their involvement is motivated by the economic opportunities offered by the Cluster, and also by the creation of social ties and the desire to retain the sector:

The agricultural component includes the project to create a lamb's wool industry that meets Quality and fair-wage requirements. The Chamber of Agriculture offers sorting courses to breeders, of which about ten are involved in this. There are no longer any spinners in the area to complete the process but the Cluster works with the spinning mill Terrade in the Creuse département in order to be able to revitalize the hosiery activity using machines bequeathed by the last hosier in the area.
As part of the industrial component, the Wool Cluster provides support for upgrading Laurent Laine's washing facilities, which in the spring of 2018 is planning to open an exemplary washing activity complying with traceability and environmental standards, in partnership with Ateliers de la Bruyère. The company is the last one to wash wool in France and many craft activities depend on it. The project mobilizes institutional (Region, sub-prefecture) and economic players. Michelin, for example, has made two production engineers available as part of corporate sponsorship.
The cultural and tourism component promotes the wool industry from the historical and contemporary standpoints. Ateliers de la Bruyère and people involved in tourism are carrying out a project for a conservation workshop, incorporating a museum area. The town of Saugues has made buildings available to accommodate this area, which is currently in search of funding.
The commercial component of the industry is provided by Ateliers de la Bruyère, which runs an online sales platform*. This was set up on the initiative of the town of Saugues, and also offers other local products.

These projects are also implemented by partners who are not members of the association but who bring their know-how to various fields: the Clermont-Ferrand engineering school SIGMA is working on wool-processing machines, the curator of the Bargoin Museum in Clermont-Ferrand is associated with the museum area project, etc.

*Madeingevaudan.com

Changing territorial contexts that are sometimes sources of uncertainty

The dynamics of those involved in these projects change according to the context, which can be a source of both opportunities and uncertainties.

The merger of the Pays de Saugues inter-communal authority, which was very much involved in structuring the Wool Cluster, with three other inter-communal authorities on 1 January 2017 was a major institutional development whose impact on the Cluster is still unknown.

Another changing context: abandoning the Sources et Gorges du Haut-Allier Regional Natural Park project in 2016 took away from the Wool Cluster the opportunity to be part of this framework. The local authorities previously involved in the RNP project might nevertheless be involved in the future through the planned expansion of the PTCE in order to involve more people, for example those working in the wood sector, and to strengthen the tourism component of the cluster.

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