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Farmstead Forest: Local, domestic and international forest product markets offer opportunities.

Curt Arens, Editor, Nebraska Farmer

October 27, 2020

3 Min Read
Farmer cutting logs with electric saw.
IT'S ALL ABOUT MARKETS: On-farm woodlands provide wildlife habitat, recreational uses and conservation benefits, but forest products also can provide an income enterprise for farmer woodland owners. Curt Arens

What is your farmstead forest worth? Do you have real, forest product value in your woodlands? While some states are covered in private forests, and others have only small woodlands, nearly every region has woodlands with timber value.

Logan Wells, forest products specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, said that using the forest products from our woodlands is essential to sustainable forest management.

During a recent webinar with educators from across Wisconsin, Wells imparted forest product basics that can help all landowners, no matter where their forests and woodlands are located, in understanding some of the value they might have in their own forestry resources.

"By harvesting trees, we are helping the health of our forests, because we are utilizing mature or dying and diseased trees," Wells explained. "We have to use what we grow. We need strong markets to keep forests on the landscape. Poor markets lead to deforestation and land-use changes" away from woodlands.

In Wisconsin, the forest products industry is the leading employer in seven counties — and is among the top five leading employers in another 20 counties. Woodlands and forest products offer economic benefits to specific regions, not only in forested states, but also in major crop and rangeland areas where there are locally owned sawmills making use of smaller regional forest resources.

As for current market trends in the lumber business, recent record highs in softwood lumber prices have garnered national attention, as well as the development of cross-laminated timber, or CLT, building technologies.

CLT panels are an innovative new building material in the U.S. that provide for the construction of skyscrapers with softwood lumber. On the hardwood lumber market, two of the highest-value lumber species are black walnut and white oak.

There has been a big uptick in demand for white oak because of a strengthened market for rift and quarter-sawn lumber, as well as growing demand by the cooperage industry. White oak is used to make the barrels needed for aging wine and bourbon.

"For woodland owners, first and foremost, get help in understanding what you have," Wells advised. "Just like an agronomist doing soil tests and helping with field crops, consult a forester, either an agency forester or private consultant, to help you understand what you have."

Wells said there are helpful landowner associations such as the National Walnut Council, National Woodland Owners Association or American Tree Farm System, among others.

Secondly, owners should focus on producing high-quality trees. "What I mean by that isn't just a species, but also the form," Wells said. "Time and effort doing timber stand improvement, like pruning crop trees, removing poor trees and invasive species, is so important to creating a healthy forest that can be sustainably managed for not only wildlife habitat, but also a sustainable long-term income stream."

Farmer woodland owners already have a leg up, Wells says. "They have access to capital and a lot of other resources many woodland owners don't have," he said. "I am very passionate about helping agriculture producers understand how to manage their woodlands, similar to an investment or bank account, to help maximize returns as well as practice good forestry."

While Wisconsin does have some region-specific markets, there are economic opportunities for woodland owners everywhere. "From local firewood production to international veneer markets, there are forest products than can benefit farmer woodland owners across the country," Wells said.

For more information, contact Wells at [email protected].

About the Author(s)

Curt Arens

Editor, Nebraska Farmer

Curt Arens began writing about Nebraska’s farm families when he was in high school. Before joining Farm Progress as a field editor in April 2010, he had worked as a freelance farm writer for 27 years, first for newspapers and then for farm magazines, including Nebraska Farmer.

His real full-time career, however, during that same period was farming his family’s fourth generation land in northeast Nebraska. He also operated his Christmas tree farm and grew black oil sunflowers for wild birdseed. Curt continues to raise corn, soybeans and alfalfa and runs a cow-calf herd.

Curt and his wife Donna have four children, Lauren, Taylor, Zachary and Benjamin. They are active in their church and St. Rose School in Crofton, where Donna teaches and their children attend classes.

Previously, the 1986 University of Nebraska animal science graduate wrote a weekly rural life column, developed a farm radio program and wrote books about farm direct marketing and farmers markets. He received media honors from the Nebraska Forest Service, Center for Rural Affairs and Northeast Nebraska Experimental Farm Association.

He wrote about the spiritual side of farming in his 2008 book, “Down to Earth: Celebrating a Blessed Life on the Land,” garnering a Catholic Press Association award.

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