What wool industry failure might tell us

I recently met up with David Lindsay, a former UWA Animal Science lecturer and now presenting on scientific writing -
http://www.hr.uwa.edu.au/development/workshops/communications/scientific-journals
He also ran a small flock of merinos after his formal retirement from UWA and within a few years, by his claim, his genetics was as good as as the best in the country. He now has some sobering views on the wool industry.
David claims that evidence for just about every other domestic livestock species, shows we should be able to quadruple production from individual sheep in 40-50 years using modern and still-to-be developed research. So far, we have used largely traditional methods and made an advance if 11 per cent in the last 70 years. Dairy cattle, by contrast have improved individual yield by 360 per cent in the last 40 years. "That sort of progress would be game changing and might even allow the industry to survive."
David blames stud breeders for this malaise, atrophy within AWI (Australian Wool Innovation Ltd), and perhaps apathy from wool producers over their expectations for productivity improvement.
It may well be too late for the wool industry, but other farming enterprises should take heed. My own research interest is - how could we have allowed ourselves to fall so far behind?