The Goderich Signal-Star, 1987-03-18, Page 64Page 18A
Wo�cliots valuable income
By Anne Narejko
CLINTON - A number of inquiries about
alternative crops and farm income to Don
Pullen at the Ontario Ministry of
Agriculture and Food r OMAF t office pro-
mpted the organization of a seminar entitled
Income From The Farm Woodlot.
With the co-operation of the Ministry of
Natural Resources t MNR), the two
organizations presented six opics and areas
which would allow those with woodlots to
enhance their farm income.
A good sized audience at the Clinton
Legioi% heard Marvin Smith of the MNR
speakon tending the woodlot to increase in-
come and reforesting marginal farmland - a
valuable legacy for your children.
Neil Edgar, of Whitechurch, spoke on
growing Christmas trees for profit and
Steven Bowers talked about selling timber.
Les Shaw of Heritage Maple Products
spoke on maple isyrup as a cash crop and
Nick Whyte, a Hullett Township farmer,
spoke about an integrated
agriculture/forestry approach to farming.
"There are two questions we hope to
answer today. The first is, is there a market
for this n1`aterial and the second is, if there
is, is it profitable • to produce?" said Mr.
Smith.
Mr. Smith was the first speaker of ,the
day, and on his topic, he said, 'Tending the
woodlot deals with fuel wood. And there is a
good market for it right now."
Tending, or cuing and thinning, the
woodlot is both helpful and profitable.
There is one key factor; In most
woodlots there are trees that can be remov-
ed for one, reason or another. such as pro-
viding growing space' for others or trecause
it is deadwood,"- explained Mr. Smith. "By
doing this, there are three major benefits.
The first is it will speed up the growth of the
other trees, secondly it will be of higher
value if produced right. The third benefit is
you can sell it for fuel wood. There wasn't a
market 10 years ago but now you can look at
it as a cash crop."
In 1980, when other types of fuel went up,
people starting turning to wood as a fuel.
Presently the market is steady, but Mr.
Smith feels it would be easy to saturate the
inarket if all available wood were to be put
on the market. - -
-The reason it's not saturated is because
some farmers are reluctant to put it on the
market," he said.
Mr. Smith also cited three uses for..the
wood that is cut - use it for your own pur-
poses, cut it for others or sell the tree while
it's still standing to a contractor.
-That way r selling to contractor) you -
don't even have to own- a chainsaw," he
said.
Financial Aspects
Although Mr. Smite said producing .fuel
wood is labor intense, he also told the au-
dience that. a profit could be made.
On average, it takes 15 hours of labor to
cut, split and stack a standard cord of wood.
By subtracting the estimated stumpage
price at $20 per cord from the retail price at
$120 and then dividing the 15 hours into the
remainder, the seller has earned $6.60 per
hour. -
As another example, Mr. Smith used a
"typical woodlot" from Huron County.
The MNR helped a local farmer mark
which trees should be cut by placing paint
marks on them and then helped him get a
standing fuel wood contractor la contractor
who cuts the trees himselft_
The farmer had 15 acres with 102 standard
cords which would give an average of 6.8
cords of fuel wood volume per acre. At an
average price of $20, the return would be
$136 per acre or $2,040 for 15 acres.
Turn to page 19A •
Neil Edgar, a Christmas tree grower in Whitechurch, was on hand for the Ministry of
Agriculture and Food's setninar on Income from the Farm Woodlot. The day long
seminar was held in the Clinton Legion in February. (Anne Narejko photo)
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