There appears little farmer support for Meat and Wool New Zealand to levy crossbred wool growers to promote the fibre.
Meat and Wool chairman Mike Petersen said farmer reaction at the first of the organisation's referendum road shows this week was quite strong they did not want the producer board funding promotion.
Mr Petersen said the message was clear that should be the role of commercial companies, which should provide marketing and promotion by levying those that supplied them wool.
He had some sympathy with that view.
"The best way for farmers to pay a marketing fee was to the company with whom they are transacting, such as happens with New Zealand Merino.
But the trouble is we are seeing few commercial initiatives in that direction."
He said there was widespread concern about the perilous financial state of the wool industry and the slow speed with which it was reorganising itself.
Comment had also been passed at how Elders Primary Wool and Wool Partners International were following separate paths, but with a similar strategy of linking wool users to growers through contracted supply.
But the prevailing view was that Meat and Wool's role should be in training shearers and woolhandlers, securing market access, representing the sectoron some farm wool research, though not generic promotion and marketing.
Close to 2500 crossbred sheep farmers attended meetings to hear Wool Partners International's plans to resurrect the fortunes of wool.
Chief executive Iain Abercrombie said the message he received was that farmers had two years to see change before the industry was considered "stuffed".
Wool Partners has a strategy of consolidating the crossbred clip to strengthen its selling power and investing in marketing, while also negotiating supply contracts for farmers with end users.
Farmers asked how long it would take to consolidate the clip and when wool would once again be economically viable.
Mr Abercrombie said he told farmers that was largely up to them and would be decided by who they supplied their wool to.
Speaking last week as the meetings came to a close, Mr Abercrombie said that he was more optimistic about prospects than when the meetings started.
But the challenge remained to convince enough farmers to direct their wool to Wool Partners.
"I'm hopeful.
"I'm quietly confident - more confident - this can be done now than when we started the road show.
"But we have to get support and convince them [farmers] by delivering on contracts rather than offering a leap of faith."
Meanwhile, New Zealand Wool Services International has more than doubled its warehousing capacity in the North and South Islands due to growing demand from international carpet manufacturers for its Purelana-branded scoured strong wool.
Purelana manager Malcolm Ching said the storage was required for the extra raw wool the company needed, which was supplied under contract by growers.
"Since we launched the brand four years ago, Purelana wool has developed an excellent reputation among carpet manufacturers in China, India and Europe," he said.
"Manufacturers now specifically request the Purelana branded product for use in their carpets, an important shift away from purchasing strong wool on the basis of price alone."