Scale economics in farm forestry with special reference to timber harvesting

The potential for farm forestry to provide commercial timber for industry will largely be dependent on the viability of harvesting and marketing of logs from many independently owned, small-scale forest blocks. This thesis examines the economic and technical aspects of small-scale timber harvesting systems based on a series of harvesting case studies, a survey of landholders with and interest in commercial timber production and time studies of industrial harvesting systems. Based on the time studies a model was developed to calculate the component costs for ownership, operating and labour for a range of industrial harvesting systems. This model was then used to gauge if farm forestry harvesting systems are likely to encounter additional costs due to their scale of operation, disaggregation, ownership, or non-timber interests. The research confirms that scale of production remains a real threat to the viability of farm forestry as it is being promoted and practised in Australia. Against this is a potential for landholders to site, design and manage their plantations so as to influence tree size and form, log quality, ease of harvesting and other factors in an attempt to improve harvest viability. The motivations and interests of farmers involved in forestry and the characteristics of their forests are likely to limit the appropriateness and relevance of industrial timber harvesting technologies, training, monitoring and evaluation methods. There is a need for specialist farm forestry harvesting and marketing approaches that are less scale dependent, more mobile and adaptable to different forest types and log specifications. A range of new alliances between the forest industry, harvest professionals, educators and landholders will be required to accommodate and support the large number of relatively inexperienced small-scale forest owners. The research also identifies a need for coordinated resource data collection that is able to collate information on forest types, location, ownership and likely yields, and a flexible regulatory environmental that acknowledges the diverse range of motivations, resources and opportunities amongst landholders involved in farm forestry in Australia