Elisa – Livestock, wool and social innovation in the Alps

This survey follows on from initial work carried out as part of the Lisa research project.

At a time of ecological transition, wool, a material with recognized aesthetic and hygroscopic properties, offers major potential for value-added. Nearly seven million sheep of 50 different breeds are raised in France, producing around 12,000 tonnes of wool greasy every year.

However, only 4% of this wool is currently used in France. The rest is exported or destroyed on the farm. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, China, the main buyer of French wool, has stopped importing. This has left many farmers without an outlet for this co-product of livestock farming.

All over France, and particularly in mountainous regions, various players are mobilizing to revive wool processing and recovery. With only one semi-industrial washing center and fewer than a dozen spinning mills still active, many have naturally turned to their border neighbors. On the other side of the Alps, while Italy has managed to maintain an internationally renowned industrial facility in the province of Biella, mobilized by French breeders, the province’s Italian breeders, paradoxically, are not taking advantage of it.

Anthropologists, geographers and agronomists are taking part in this research to explain these differences and the issues at stake for the renewal of wool industries, and to encourage collaboration with industry players on both sides of the border: spinning mills, craftsmen, political leaders, vocational training centers…

As part of this project, surveys are carried out mainly in the Biel Alps on the Italian side, and in various locations in the French Alps where there are players in the industry: Hautes-Alpes, Trièves, Roya Valley…