After decades of decline, New Zealand’s wool industry is making a comeback

John Hargreaves with sheep on his family’s farm in northern New Zealand. For the first time in about six years his wool is making a profit again, he says. Photograph: Fiona Goodall/Getty Images

John Hargreaves’ family has farmed sheep and beef in Kaiwaka, north of Auckland, for generations. In the 1960s they had 3,000 ewes but in the decades since, as the value of wool declined and shearing costs grew, his flock slowly decreased to just over 1,700.

But now, for the first time in roughly six years, his wool is making money.