Gregory E. Frey

Comparing silvopastoral systems and prospects in eight regions of the world

Silvopasture systems combine trees, forage, and livestock in a variety of different species and management regimes, depending on the biophysical, economic, cultural, and market factors in a region. We describe and compare actual farm practices and current research trials of silvopastoral systems in eight regions within seven countries of the world: Misiones and Corrientes provinces, Argentina; La Pampa province, Argentina; northwestern Minas Gerais, Brazil; the Aysén region of Patagonia, Chile; the North Island of New Zealand; the Southeast United States; Paraguay; and Uruguay. Some countries use native trees and existing forests; some use plantations, particularly of exotic species. Natural forest silvopasture systems generally add livestock in extensive systems, to capture the benefits of shade, forage, and income diversification without much added inputs. Plantation forest systems are more purposive and intensive, with more focus on joint production and profits, for small owners, large ranches, and timber companies. Trends suggest that more active management of both natural and planted silvopastoral systems will be required to enhance joint production of timber and livestock, achieve income diversification and reduce financial risk, make more profit, improve environmental benefits, and realize more resilience to adapt to climate change.

Community forestry enterprises in Mexico : sustainability and competitiveness

Community-based forest management, such as Community Forest Enterprises (CFEs), has the potential to generate positive socioenvironmental and economic outcomes. We performed a detailed survey of financial and production parameters for 30 of the approximately 992 CFEs in Mexico in order to estimate costs, income, profits, and sustainability of harvest levels for forest management, harvest, and sawmilling. Fourteen of the 30 CFEs harvested more timber than they grew in 2011, suggesting issues with sustainability, but only two of these had harvest far above annual growth, and five of those were only a fraction more than annual growth. All of the 30 CFEs except one made profits in forest management and timber growing. For timber harvesting, 22 of 30 CFEs made profits, but the losses were small for the other CFEs. For the 23 CFEs with sawmills, 18 made profits and five had losses; the greatest returns for the CFEs accrued to those with sawmills for lumber production. On average, the CFEs surveyed had high costs of production relative to other countries, but the CFEs were still profitable in national lumber markets. If Mexico were to begin importing large amounts of lumber from lower cost countries, this could pose a threat to CFE profitability.

A Within-Farm Efficiency Comparison of Silvopasture Systems with Conventional Pasture and Forestry in Northeast Argentina

Agroforestry, which has multiple inputs and outputs, would benefit from scrutiny of economic efficiency because levels of adoption have not met expectations. Previous literature estimated the efficiency of agricultural systems using data envelopment analysis; however, the vast variability between farms makes comparing systems difficult. This study uses paired, within-farm comparisons of silvopasture, a combination of planted trees and pasture, to conventional cattle-ranching and plantation forestry, to evaluate the relative technical efficiency. Silvopasture proves to be more efficient than conventional cattle-ranching. Forestry demonstrated increasing returns to scale, cattle-raising demonstrated decreasing returns to scale for large-scale farmers, and silvopasture was intermediate. (JEL D24, O13)

Financial Analysis and Comparison of Smallholder Forest and State Forest Enterprise Plantations in Central Vietnam

SUMMARY State forest enterprises (SFEs) in Vietnam for decades were the main source of industrial wood production, but smallholder forest plantations have become common. Smallholders need positive financial returns to be viable. Likewise, financial returns are an important consideration of proposals to turn SFEs into joint ventures, because the potentially involved private companies would seek reasonable returns on investment. Financial analyses of smallholder and SFE forest plantations were undertaken to evaluate their competitiveness and profitability, and to assess opportunities and challenges for the sector. It was found that forest plantations in Vietnam, under current market conditions, can be profitable. Smallholders who received technical assistance and financial support could generate average land expectation values (LEVs) of about US

Global timber investments, wood costs, regulation, and risk.

5 100/ha at 8% discount rate. Even without financial support, and assuming smallholders pay for the cost of technical assistance, average LEVs were about US

Perceptions of silvopasture systems among adopters in northeast Argentina

4 600/ha. Smallholders participating in a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification pilot had higher LEVs, assuming price premiums for certified wood. Positive LEVs were robust to lower wood price and higher discount rates. SFEs, on the other hand, had poorer returns because of lower growth and yield of wood, which may be due to differences in sites and management. Vietnamese wood producers are competitive internationally, and have opportunities to tap domestic and international markets.