Increasing returns from farm woodlots with owner-operated processing of timber

Increasing returns from farm woodlots with owner-operated processing of timber

Summary

Farmers who own small to medium sized woodlots often do not recognize the potential value of their timber. Returns from woodlot timber can be raised significantly by on-farm processing rather than lump sum sales to loggers, timber buyers, or mills. West Virginia’s year 2000 average farm net income was only $2,022 versus $21,382 for the U.S. according to the U.S.D.A. Economic Research Service (ERS). The 1997 Census of Agriculture showed that 41% of West Virginia farmland was in woodland (1.4 million acres) with an average woodlot size of 81 acres. This compares to a U.S. average of only 7% of farmland in woodlots with an average woodlot size of 37 acres. There is a great potential in West Virginia to increase farm income by adding value through on-farm processing of woodlot timber. The opportunity, resource, market and technology is present.

Farm advisors will be trained so that they feel competent and comfortable disseminating portable sawmill technical information. Adding value to their farm through increased utilization of their timber resource will make smaller farms more sustainable and profitable. Professionals advising farmers will learn new opportunities that encourage farmers to utilize woodlots for higher returns. Professionals such as Extension agents will be given financial and operational information that can be used to convince farmers of potential financial returns and options.

The project will involve several phases. Phase one will identify and select demonstration farmers who operate portable sawmills. A curriculum and fact sheet will be developed. The second phase involves three workshops for professionals to be held across the state. The third phase will involve the professional advisors disseminating the information and conducting educational programs such as workshops for their clients. The final phase will be a survey to determine if farmers adopted value-added income methods..

Objectives/Performance Targets

Performance targets:

1. 30 extension and other farm and forestry educators will conduct educational programs on owner operated processing for value-added opportunities of timber.

2. Of the 30 educational programs, 10 will involve workshops for farmers/woodlot owners.

3. Of the 10 workshops presented by educators, 3 will incorporate on-farm demonstrations.

4. 100 farmers / woodlot owners who are recipients of value-added timber educational programs will add or plan to add value as a result of this program.

Accomplishments/Milestones

1. Develop curriculum and fact sheets with key project individuals. Target date: Sept. 2003. No. beneficiaries: 9.

A workshop curriculum was developed as a series of individual speakers, each with a specific topic. No formal write-up of these presentations has been completed to date. Partial notes on various presentations are on file and several fact sheets are in progress. Our goal for this milestone in 2005 will be to complete a written curriculum and three fact sheets.

2. Select three farmers/woodlot owner sites for professional educator demonstrations. Target date: Sept. 2003.No. beneficiaries: 3.

Professional educator sites were located in 2003-2004 (see milestone #3 below)

3. Attend workshop (extension agents and other farm/forestry professionals) on value-added processing of woodlot timber. Target date: June 2003. No. beneficiaries: 60.

The target number of beneficiaries was exceeded for this milestone. The three workshops were attended by a total of 112 participants. Our effort was geared toward getting as many educators as possible to these workshops. A summary of each workshop follows:

April 13, 2004—As part of the 2004 West Virginia County Agriculture Agents Spring meeting, Steve Milauskas facilitated a NE SARE Portable Sawmill training session. Other trainers involved were Ed Cesa (USDA Forest Service), David Hardesty (WV Division of Forestry), Jeff Parsons (Sawmill owner), and Dave McGill (WVU Extension Service). Other project partners— WVU Extension Agents Brian Sparks, Larry Campbell, and Ronnie Helmondollar— and 23 additional county agriculture agents from the WVU Extension Service were participants of this initial training session.

July 23, 2004—Two, two-hour portable sawmill workshops were held during the NESARE Timber to Truffles workshop on the Glenville State University Campus. Among the 33 extension agents, natural resources agency personnel, and master forestland owners were project partners Steve Milauskas, Dave Hardesty, Larry Campbell, and Dave McGill.

November 14, 2004—A day-long portable sawmill training session was delivered as a West Virginia Forest Stewardship Planwriters workshop. Each year foresters who write forest stewardship plans are required to complete two of these workshops. Fifty-three forest resources professionals attended this session. Project partners included Ed Murriner and Dave McGill.

With the departure of Steve Milauskas from the project in August 2004, the project is now administered by Dave McGill. Since the outset of the project, two other project partners have left the WVU Extension Service. We will be filling those partner positions in 2005. Technical and logistical difficulties with the initial sawmill contractor for the 2004 workshops made it necessary to contract with other local sawmillers to complete the workshops. All three workshops were held using appropriate safety equipment and none had any reportable injuries.

4. Initiate and conduct educational programs (extension agents and other farm/forestry professionals) for clients on value-added processing opportunities through workshops, newsletters, farmer/woodlot owner meetings, newspaper articles, etc. Target date: March 2005. No. beneficiaries: 30.

5. Conduct workshops for clients on value-added timber processing. Target date: March 2005. No. beneficiaries: 10.

6. Conduct on-farm/woodlot demonstrations of value-added timber processing equipment and systems. Target date: March 2005. No. beneficiaries: 3.

The strategy to achieve Milestones #4-6 is currently being formulated. In January 2005, the project team will begin to coordinate meeting schedules and ideas for target audiences.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

To date (prior to our 2006 final survey of workshop participants), no reports of workshop participants working with portable sawmills have been received.