Samantha Wan is a multi award winning wool industry specialist, having worked in the industry, based in Victoria, for more than a decade. She’s been described as someone who “lives wool 24 hours a day” and although not born into the sheep and wool industry, after getting her start with Elders, Samantha said she has built her life around wool through her support role, advocacy, community work and involvement in industry programs. She is no stranger to innovation, known for her innovative approach and ability to introduce new tools and techniques in her business role to improve commercial outcomes.

During the Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020/21, like many Victorians, Samantha embraced home gardening. She has since relocated to a rural location and immersed herself in gardening for food production on a broader scale. During the course of this developing horticultural interest, and through discussion with others, Sam realised there was a significant problem with pest control for damaging slugs and that the use of wool, with its scaley fibre was a potential natural solution. At the same time, Samantha was tussling with the issue of a lack of viable markets for a particular segment of wool fleeces, sometimes sold for often less than $0.10/kg at auction, as well as the challenge of utilising waste wool.

The idea of pelletising a wool based slug treatment was formed with some validation of the idea having been taken up in Europe. Biosecurity protocols prevent these solutions from import to Australia and Sam was unaware of a comparable Australian product.