Born and raised in Alexandra, Graeme Bell has worked in the wool industry since December 1968, attending Lincoln College’s wool course in 1970, which started a wool classing career that is still going strong. For the past eight years he has been PGG Wrightson Wool’s Central Otago rep.

He reckons its climate and environment, low humidity and low VM counts make it the best region to grow wool.

“We have no shortage of healthy country: high country for merinos, lower for crossbreds. However, water is white gold, and without it a farm will not survive, particularly now with farmers needing greater economy of scale. 

“In my time, local wool growers’ big challenge has been breeding for crossbred and mid micron wools. First they transitioned to improving lambing percentages, now the cycle has changed back towards breeding a dual purpose sheep and diverse income,” he says.

Graeme believes the wool industry has a good future, providing everyone works together to promote wool. 

“Growers are looking for closer relationships with the manufacturers and users of their product. We need to work with the market to bring growers closer to end users. If we can do that, the future looks good,” he says.

Fifty years on, the boundaries between work and personal life can disappear. 

“My relationships with my clients has been most important to me in this career. I have made some very special friends through wool,” says Graeme. 

Outside work Graeme has 11 grandchildren aged 18 months to eight years. Most of the family are local to Alexandra, so he spends much of his time following their exploits. A keen ‘sideline grandparent’ he is often on the side of the paddock, the pool or the track, where the grandchildren are into rugby, swimming, and athletics, which he finds time to fit in around work. During the winter he is a keen curler himself. He is also involved in local and regional government, serving as an elected member between 1989 and 2019.