A national program ran by Australian Wool Innovation and delivered by Pinion Advisory, Breeding Leadership, is for young people in all areas of the wool industry with an aim to develop participants professional skills.
This years tour base was the Clare Valley with various adventures on the agenda providing exposure into the wool industry.
Wool classer and wool handling trainer Shannon Donoghue, Naracoorte, said she took a lot more of the tour in than the first time she attended Michell Wool when she did her wool classing stencil.
"It's really good to see that extra processing," she said.
"I suppose you don't really think about it when you are classing where it goes after it leaves the shed.
"I think it's really important for classers, wool handlers and growers to know what happens to their wool after it leaves the shed on the truck.
"It's a great networking place - there's people from all over the country here."
She said the connections made with other participants were really personable.
"It's really good to see what issues are in their area, what they're passionate about, where they see their property or their business going," she said.
"For me who's directly in the wool industry - in the shed, it's good to talk to other growers what they see as issues in the shearing industry.
"We learnt a lot about personal development, which I think as a wool handling trainer, that's super important as I can pass that on to my students."
Participant Monica Lay, Murray bridge, said breeding leadership was fantastic for young people within the wool industry who wanted to harness and identify their skills to be able to become an advocate for the industry.
"It's great if you want to be able to grow yourself, and also the industry forward," she said.
"What we really need in the industry is young people coming back into the industry.
"It's an exciting time, and we need to retain those people and give them the skills to be able to grow the industry forward.
"Even if you think that you are not a big woolgrower or your not that impactful on the industry - this can help you make an impact in your own bubble."
She said breeding leadership provided the skills to navigate succession planning.
"It has also been great with strategic plans for yourself as an individual and also in a business sense," she said.
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"It is beneficial to anyone."
Participant from HB Rural Tom Tahenay, Lucindale, said the Michell Direct Wool tour was great.
"I have done the tour before, but this time I learnt the amount of wool which comes through the doors was more than I thought," he said.
"It was very educational being able to see what happens in the processing plant as well as the laboratory."
AWI project coordinator George Lehmann said the Michell Wool tour was really important to show the group of young wool industry people how first stage processing works in Australia.
"It showed them that it's not all done in China, and there is people here doing great things," he said.
"The program itself has been running now for 18 years biannually so it is the ninth program we have ran.
"The reason why AWI supports it every time is because it has had great results and the people that come out of it, are very good advocates for the industry.
"Through this program the participants are exposed to a whole range of different concepts that we hope they can learn and take that information back to their family places or the businesses that they're working in."