Why is knitting wool so expensive

I knit as a fidget. I reckon it is better than smoking or some such thing. For some strange reason I find it very soothing as long as I don't have to think about what I am doing-  then it becomes a stress.
I therefore knit boring things like squares that require no brain input at all.
The trouble is that knitting wool is horribly expensive nowadays. It is cheaper to buy a woolen jumper than to  knit one. I cant think why. The poor old farmers round here get so little for the  fleeces from their sheep that it is not worth their trouble shearing them and shipping the fleeces off .
There  must be some big rip-off going on somewhere.
So I go around the charity shops and buy any odds and ends of wool that they have and I knit it into either socks or squares.
This week I decided that I had enough squares to join together. The picture shows them laid out.
I am showing my masterpiece at this stage because I suspect that from now it may be all downhill.
The thought of sewing all these squares together is daunting and will require concentration and I am sure to get them all muddled up.
But - I dedicate to - the sheep