Fall 2023 23 Logging businesses are a crucial link in the supply chain that provides the raw materials for Virginia’s forest industry. Logging businesses are in the middle of that supply chain where they enable forest landowners to harvest timber and generate revenue from their forests. They then deliver wood to mills that produce forest products for consumers. A lot of research has focused on the sustainability of forest harvesting practices and protecting water quality. As a result, we have very sustainable harvesting practices and very high implementation rates of Best Management Practices (BMPs) for protecting water quality. However, not a lot of attention has been focused on the sustainability of the logging businesses that are implementing those harvests. There are three pillars of sustainability that include social, environmental, and economic factors. Across the U.S., changes in markets and reduced demand for certain products have resulted in a challenging business environment for many logging businesses. So how economically sustainable are Virginia’s logging businesses? That is the question that we asked Virginia’s loggers in a recent survey we conducted that focused on the economic sustainability of Virginiabased logging businesses. In this logging business survey, one of the questions we asked business owners was to rate their outlook on the economic sustainability of their logging business using a scale of 0–10 where zero is very unsustainable, five is neutral, and 10 is very sustainable. Overall, across Virginia the average score was 4.6, which is on the unsustainable side of neutral. By far, the single most common response to this question was a 5, or “neutral.” Another question on the survey asked about logging business’ profitability over the past year. Approximately half of businesses indicated that they were somewhere near break-even and only about a third of businesses indicated they were profitable during that timeframe. We also asked logging businesses to rate the top challenges they face that impact the economic sustainability of their logging operation. Many of the top challenges are related to inflation in costs for fuel, parts for repair and maintenance, and equipment. Additional challenges were related to trucking, such as finding qualified drivers and the availability and cost of insurance for trucks. Other top challenges included the delivered price of wood relative to logging costs, as well as the amount of quota that the loggers are able to produce when mills are limiting deliveries. Data from this survey shows that many logging businesses have been struggling in the past year or more. Many of the challenges identified in this survey are market-related. Improvement in the economic sustainability of logging businesses will likely require improvements in markets. Markets can and do change quickly, and the future is far from certain. However, it is important to recognize that if we are to have sustainable forestry, then we also need a healthy and sustainable logging workforce. THE LOGROLL Notes & News for Loggers Sustainability of Virginia’s Logging Businesses By Scott Barrett, Ph.D. Extension Specialist—Forest Operations Virginia Tech Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation
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