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thos

Joined: 08 Mar 2005
Posts: 1139
Location: Jauche, Duchy of Brabant (Bourgogne-ci) and Charolles, Duchy of Burgundy (Bourgogne-ï¿½a)

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 05 8:23 am Post subject: Wood yield

A plot of land is being advertised through a local Estate Agent. It is 32 Ares (0.8 acre) for ï¿½25K, which works out at about GBP 5.20 per metreï¿½.

It's classified as 'Leisure' use and has a 12mï¿½ wooden chalet on it. Its appeal to me is that it is all wooded.

Is there any rough and ready calculation to say how much wood I would be able to farm from this? What else could I do with it? As it's about 12km from home I would not want to go there every day to look after any livestock, and I wouldn't want to stay in the chalet, which looks to me like a big garden shed.

Or should I keep my money?

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tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 05 9:05 am Post subject:
There are absolutely loads and loads of products that you can harvest from a woodland: Food: Nuts, fruits, saps, leaves, fungi Fuel: Coppiced woods Materials: Coppiced and normal woods take a look at www.agroforestry.co.uk and www.permaculture.co.uk both have publications that you need to read.

Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91ï¿½ N

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 05 9:12 am Post subject:

Regardless of the capital cost I'd question whether it could pay its way because of the distance from you. How much wood would you need to harvest to justify the 24 km round trip? A 24km round trip by car would typically work out at about ï¿½7 (ish), by the time you count fuel, maintenance and depreciation, so if you do that once a week for one reason or another then the question is how much wood / fuel could you buy for ï¿½350 pa? I suspect more than you could reasonably harvest from 1/3 hectare.

Of course if it was next door I'd say go for it, if you want it for amenity value I'd say go for it, but if you want it for profit from wood then it seems unlikely to be viable.

JB (who's been toying with the idea of buying 1.5 acres for ï¿½5K but its 10km from home)

Last edited by Jb on Fri Sep 30, 05 9:28 am; edited 1 time in total

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 05 9:15 am Post subject:
The thing is to harvest more than just wood.

Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91ï¿½ N

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 05 9:18 am Post subject:
Addendum - you could also consider it if you consider the value of foraging, but again its a small area to get much reliable yield. (Edited just to to say that Tahir's post and mine crossed)

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 05 9:19 am Post subject:

JB wrote:

its a small area to get much reliable yield.

No it's not, you need to go on the Forest gardening course at A.R.T.

Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91ï¿½ N

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 05 9:21 am Post subject:
A.R.T.?

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 05 9:22 am Post subject:

JB wrote:

A.R.T.?

www.agroforestry.co.uk

You'll be amazed.

Blue Peter

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2400
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 05 9:24 am Post subject:

tahir wrote:

JB wrote:

its a small area to get much reliable yield.

No it's not, you need to go on the Forest gardening course at A.R.T.

Tahir,

Did you get any figures form your course?

One figure which I can offer from the book which I'm reviewing, 1 hectare of coppiced wood should provide for all the wood fuel heating and cooking needs of a family in a super-insulated home,

Peter.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 05 9:29 am Post subject:
Figures, even very rough ones are impossible to get at, everything depends on what your land is like, local climate, expected inputs (time/labour/money), anticipated outputs (fuel/food/herbs etc).... I'd say that a 2 acre woodland where I live could feasibly fuel you and go a large way to feeding you

thos

Joined: 08 Mar 2005
Posts: 1139
Location: Jauche, Duchy of Brabant (Bourgogne-ci) and Charolles, Duchy of Burgundy (Bourgogne-ï¿½a)

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 05 10:18 am Post subject:
Oh dear, I was hoping it would be enough not only to keep me in wood, but let me sell some as well. The interest on ï¿½25k would buy a lot of wood at ï¿½40 per mï¿½. (I would also need to buy a trailer and use my time) I have worked out that that I will probably need 30mï¿½ for a Rayburn (cooking, winter HW and some radiators) and 6mï¿½ for a stove in the lounge.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 05 10:20 am Post subject:
Don't worry about selling wood, woodland products such as fungi, nuts, etc are much more valuable than wood on it's own

dougal

Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 05 11:04 am Post subject:
In the UK, there are favourable tax considerations given to ownership of commercial woodland. These tend to increase the 'worth' of woodland. Are there any such additional factors in Belgium? (Apart from tax, what about grants, subsidies, incentives...?)

thos

Joined: 08 Mar 2005
Posts: 1139
Location: Jauche, Duchy of Brabant (Bourgogne-ci) and Charolles, Duchy of Burgundy (Bourgogne-ï¿½a)

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 05 11:12 am Post subject:

dougal wrote:

In the UK, there are favourable tax considerations given to ownership of commercial woodland.
These tend to increase the 'worth' of woodland.
Are there any such additional factors in Belgium? (Apart from tax, what about grants, subsidies, incentives...?)

There are loads of different subsidies for everything. Unfortunately they all work by reducing income tax. And I don't pay income tax, just all the other taxes.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 05 11:14 am Post subject: Re: Wood yield
Looks kind of scrubby from that image, so the forage there could be quite good. What's on the surrounding land? What kind of trees predominate? What's the undergrowth like? What kind of soil? Any water courses on it? Sorry for all the questions, but I'm trying to figure some things out for foraging on it; there may not be much there you want to forage for yet, but you can work on that.

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