Ag Opportunities Volume 17, Number 12 December 2006 Making Money from Trees Requires Ingenuity and Planning By Sara Agnew Senior Information Specialist Extension and Ag Information That grove of trees might be the most overlooked cash crop on your property. Mike Gold, an associate professor of forestry at the University of Missouri, said there are many ways to make money from timber, and they involve more than selling wood. "A forest is more than woods and waste," Gold said. "People don’t know about the value of trees or they don’t believe it." Gold was one of the many experts who put on forums and seminars during the 14th Annual Small Farm Trade Show & Conference at the Boone County Fairgrounds, Nov. 2-4. More than 50 people attended his 50-minute talk about how to make money from trees. Gold told visitors that proper management is the key to making a long-term profit in traditional timber harvest. Ultimately, a properly managed forest increases the value of the harvested timber and promotes new growth, he said. "There are 14 million acres of forest in Missouri. Less than 10 percent is managed as we know it could be, which means we are losing potential value over time, Gold said. John Dwyer, an MU associate forestry professor, said the proof to Gold’s point is in a 50-year university timber management study on scarlet oak and black oak forest stands near Poplar Bluff, MO. In 1953, MU scientists began the study on effects of various levels of thinning and pruning. "As with any good study, there were four levels of thinning and one control plot where nothing was done" to the trees, Dwyer said. By 1985, MU foresters discovered that the trees in the harvested stands were healthier and worth more money than trees from the control plot, Dwyer said. "The timber volume from the thinned forest stands was 42 percent higher than the control" area, "and the value of the timber was more than 250 percent higher," he said. By 2004, trees in the harvested plots were even larger and more valuable compared to the scraggly timber left in the untouched plot. There, overcrowding smothered most new growth, Gold said. The secret to thinning a forest successfully is to know which trees to harvest and which trees to spare for future growth. A professional forester can help you make those decisions, Gold told the audience. A hired forester represents your best interests with loggers and ensures a quality logging job. A forester also can help you arrange a competitive bidding process to secure top dollar for your timber, and help choose a reputable logger. "People can be taken advantage of," Gold said. "Don’t ever sell to someone who comes to your door and offers to cut down your trees. You have no control over what trees they take, and their mistakes could set you back for years." An inexperienced logger also can damage remaining trees during harvest, drastically reducing their future value, Gold said. "In this case, sellers beware," he warned. Gold discussed other ways to make money from forest stands, including marketing "junk species," such as red cedar, or trees with burls and crotches, to the craft industry. Such trees can be turned into gun stocks, bowls and pen blanks, Gold said. He told of Paul Easley, a woodworker from central Illinois, who earns a living on so-called "throw-away wood." About 80 percent of the wood Easley uses are scraps that would ordinarily be taken to the landfill, Gold said. "Paul says he can make as much from the scrap wood as from the timber that is harvested," he said. "That’s saying a lot." Landowners also can make money farming the rich forest floor, where valuable botanicals such as ginseng can be cultivated or wild simulated, Gold said. Perennials such as trillium, wild geranium, jack-in-the-pulpit and bluebells also thrive in the shade of the forest canopy and can be propagated and sold. Elderberries can be grown in the forest and harvested for use in jams, wines and jellies, Gold said. Other options include inoculating logs with spawn and growing shiitake mushrooms or baling pine straw for animal bedding and mulch. "I just want to impress upon people that there is money to be made in timber," Gold said. For more info, visit the Univ of MO Center of Agroforestry Web site at http://www.centerforagroforestry.org/ (Sources: Mike Gold, 573-884-1448; John Dwyer, 573-882-3537) ********************************************************************** Key Elements to Successful Customer Service Jody Padgham, Univ of Wisconsin When taking on the role of a direct marketer of your own products, you are also stepping into the position of customer service and customer satisfaction manager of your business. Many farmers find that although they are very skilled at producing a quality product, the process of selling that product to others can be very challenging. Much of your success in direct marketing revolves around your attitude toward your customers and the way that you choose to serve them. * Communicate clearly. Be sure all prices are well marked, signage is clear and the proper size. Make changes if they are recommended! Be accessible; return phone calls and emails in a timely manner. Understand what the customer wants. Bag items in appropriate sizes, cut up items if requested, be sure everything is packaged neatly. Make reasonable changes if the customer asks. * Make sure both the seller and the product have a clean, neat appearance. Farmer overalls are okay, but they must be clean! Be proud of what you do! If you are the wallflower type, ask your vibrant 15-year-old to be the primary sales person at the front of the market stand. Show people that you enjoy producing food for them, that you are excited and happy to be bringing it to them. * Follow the rules. Adhere to all weighing, cleanliness and food safety regulations. Keep weighing and packaging surfaces clean and uncluttered. Be sure scales are accurate and clean, packaging is neat and appropriate for the product. In selling direct to customers you have the great advantage of being able to communicate directly with them. Not many people that produce a product can do this. Be sure to take advantage of the contact. How can you best enhance this connection? * Ask your customers what they think of your product or service, through surveys or comment sheets. * Explain your farm philosophy in detail and why what you do is different from anyone else. Make a brochure with lots of cute photos that explains who you are and what you do. Give it to all of your customers. * Consider creating a newsletter that goes out to customers once, twice a year, or more often. Include recipes, farm updates and news of the family so that your customers make a connection to you and your farm. * Create events at the farm for folks to visit in person and see where their food comes from. Lots of people today are looking for a reason to connect with the country, farms and food. Let them feel a sense of connection with you. If you work to develop relationships with your customers, they will shower you with loyalty. If you listen to their needs and respond to their requests, not only will you ensure a market for what you produce, but you will benefit from the connection with people that support what you do for them. Work to make them happy, and they in turn will give you the support you need to thrive. (reprinted with permission from http://learningstore.uwex.edu/pdf/A3811-10.pdf) ********************************************************************** Web site unites buyers, sellers of Missouri-grown products By Sara Agnew Senior Information Specialist Extension and Ag Information Say you raise honeybees as a hobby. You like honey, but your bees produce more of the thick, syrupy stuff than you can use but not enough to make it worth your while to peddle the extras at the farmers’ market or the local grocer. Wouldn’t it be sweet to find an opportunity to make a little cash on that extra honey? Now you can. Folks at the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry and the Missouri Grow Native! program are developing a Web site that brings together buyers and sellers of Missouri-grown products. The site will allow users to post the product he or she wants to sell or buy, said Larry Godsey, economist with the MU center. "Mostly, we want to grow (the) market for alternative products grown in Missouri," he said. "You don’t have to be a big producer to participate. That’s the whole point of this. We want small growers, too." Products on the site might include locally grown honey, native plants and seeds, culinary and medicinal herbs, specialty wood products and heirloom vegetables. Godsey expects the site to be complete by Jan 1, 2007. In the meantime, he’s inviting growers to begin listing their products for sale by contacting him at http://www.centerforagroforestry.org or sending potential postings to the MU Center for Agroforestry, 203 Anheuser-Busch Natural Resources Building, Columbia, MO 65211. Consumers registering on the Web site will have access to contact information provided by the buyer or seller. No sales will be made via the Web site, Godsey said. "The online market is the fastest growing market area," he said. "It’s convenient, and the Internet provides immediate access to the information." Producers can change prices and update offerings immediately. Godsey said people who post items on the site choose how much contact information to provide. For example, a grower may post a phone number, an e-mail address, a short biography and a photograph of his or her farm. Others may list only the items they are selling or looking to buy and an e-mail address. Site funding is provided by a grant from the Federal State Marketing Improvement Program. The grant was awarded to Grow Native!, a joint program of the Missouri Department of Conservation and Missouri Department of Agriculture. That program partnered with the MU Center for Agroforestry to develop the site. "It’s going to be a very user-friendly site," said Tammy Bruckerhoff, marketing and business development specialist for Grow Native!. Grow Native!’s charge is to restore the state’s biodiversity and increase awareness of native plants and their uses. "We frequently receive requests for places to buy native seeds and plants. Now, buyers can check this Web site for sources," Bruckerhoff said. Godsey said the Web site will include a product list as well as a directory of members. The site also will allow buyers and sellers to post feedback as well as provide a space where experts can share educational information with people who visit the site. "We want the site to have an educational aspect as well," Godsey said. "Often in small niche markets there aren’t standards because the markets are so small. We hope to post information that can help people in those small markets." Godsey said the Web site would be closely monitored for appropriate postings and up-to-date information. "If something has been posted for 60 days, we will contact (the seller) to make sure it is still available," he said. "Our hope is it will highlight the diversity of products that can be grown in Missouri." Sources: Larry Godsey, 573-884-3216; Tammy Bruckerhoff, 573-522-4170 ********************************************************************** ***IN THE NEWS*** Note a better harvester for grass seed. It strips seeds from grass with a spinning brush and comb, leaving the grass standing. The machine, built in Montana and called the Arbuckle Native Seedster, is designed to better meet the needs of a surging market for grass seed. It works better than a grain combine, which isn't well suited to harvesting small, light seeds that are typical of native grasses. Such grasses are especially in demand for land reclamation projects by government agencies as well as by private firms. But overall demand for other types of grass seed for landscaping, range- and pasturelands is surging, too. Three states, Oregon, Washington and Missouri, together have more than a million acres devoted to growing grass seed. Researchers at the Washington State University have found that organic farming methods can help reduce the amount of nitrogen draining into ground water. John Reganold at the Washington State University and colleagues at Stanford University and The Land Institute examined the use of organic fertilizers on nitrate leaching, or draining, in soils. With funding from the USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, the researchers examined nitrate leaching in an apple orchard under three management systems: organic, conventional and integrated. The study found that annual nitrate leaching was four to five times higher in the conventional treatment than in the two organic treatments, with the integrated treatment in between. (Weekly Harvest Newsletter, Nov 8, 2006) The Farm Service Agency (FSA) has loan funding available for "socially disadvantaged" applicants to buy and operate family-sized farms. Eligibility information and application material are available through local FSAs or at www.fsa.usda.gov/pas/publications/facts/html/sdaloan02.htm A web mall for producers of wild crop products is at www.wildcrops.com. Any producer is welcome to be listed as a vender on the site. ********************************************************************** ***IN PRINT/ON-LINE*** *Weed 'Em and Reap* is a two-DVD set which showcases cultivation tools (part 1, 36 minutes) and reduced tillage strategies (part 2, 49 minutes) suitable for non-chemical vegetable production. Available from Oregon State University for $37.95 + $4 s&h for the two-DVD set. http://oregonstate.edu/dept/hort/faculty/stone/WeedEmandReap/index.htm l *Livestock Marketing Toolkit*The livestock marketing toolkit includes best management practices profiles, promotion materials, and a 17-page checklist that covers production costs, processing, pricing, food safety, advertising, PR, industry associations and where to find resources. $15, email to lewis@cornell.edu. *Guidebook to Organic Certification* is an easy-to-use handbook designed to answer common questions about organic certification. Also fully indexed. Available as a downloadable pdf at www.mosesorganic.org/attachments/guidebook.pdf *Market Farming Success*Raises the awareness of new growers to the kinds of knowledge they need to acquire in order to succeed in market farming. Available from Growing for Market, PO Box 3747, Lawrence, KS 66046, 800-307-8949, $24.95. *Organic Dairy Farming* a 192 page full-size paperback book. Designed to help the transitioning or new organic farmer understand the basic concepts behind organic dairy production and certification. Chapters on dairy nutrition, cow and calf management, organic health care, stress and animal handling, farm milk quality, farm biosecurity, animal breeding for organic production, soil health, organic cropping systems, pasture management, organic certification and organic marketing options. Call 715-772-3153 or info@mosesorganic.org *Resource Guide for Organic Insect and Disease Management*Produced by a diverse team at Cornell University. Section one contains cultural information and management practices for a number of important vegetable crop groups. Section two is a set of fact sheets about specific materials that can be used in organic systems. The last section contains appendices with useful information about additional practices such as plant resistance, trap cropping, habitats for beneficial insects, concept of resistance, materials exempt from pesticide regulation and additional resources. This guide is available in full online at http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/pp/resourceguide/index.php *Proceedings of the 5th Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Symposium* is $40 from Mountain State Univ, Medicinal Botanicals Program, PO Box 9003, Beckley, WV 25802-9003. ********************************************************************** ***ON THE CALENDAR*** Dec 1: Deadline - Farmer Rancher Grant Proposals. North Central Region SARE, 800-529-1342 ncrsare@unl.edu; http://www.sare.org/ncrsare/prod.htm Dec 1-2 - MO Livestock Symposium, Kirksville, MO. Call 660-665-9866 or http://missourilivestock.com Dec 2 - Feeding Kansas City Conference, Kansas City, MO. Call 913-488-1270 or http://www.growinggrowers.org. Dec 2 - Rural Live Day 2006, Jefferson City, MO. Call 573-635-9127 x 225. Dec 6-7 - A Recipe for Success: Organic Production and Consumer Driven Marketing for the Farmer Entrepreneur, Bloomington, IL. Call 217-333-1588 , aslan@uiuc.edu Dec 7-9 - Acres USA Conference, St Paul, MN. 800-355-5313, info@acresusa.com, www.acresusa.com/events/events.htm Dec 8-9 - US Freshwater Prawn & Shrimp Growers Assn, Nashville, TN. 662-390-3528 or usprawngrowers@yahoo.com Dec 10-11 - MO Governor’s Conference on Agriculture, Lake Ozark, MO. Dec 10-13 - 3rd National Conference on Grazing Lands, St Louis, MO. Call 303-986-3309, www.glci.org/3NCGLindex.htm Dec 12 - Natural Resource Conservation Programs and Services and Sustainable Agriculture Opportunities, Milan, MO. Call 573-884-3794. Dec 15--Deadline - Organic Research Proposals. Organic Farming Research Foundation. 831-426-6606, jane@ofrf.org, www.ofrf.org/research/application.html Jan 5-6 - Horticulture Industry Show: Sustainable Agriculture/Farmers Market, Ft Smith, AR. Call 405-744-6460. Jan 9,16, 23 - Farm & Small Business Estate Planning Workshop, Kirksville, MO. Call 660-947-2705. Jan 9, 16, 23, 30, Feb 6, 20 - Annie’s Project, Columbia, MO. Call 573-581-3231. Jan 11-13 - Great Plains Vegetable Conference, St Joseph, MO. Call 816-279-1691. Jan 12-13 - Landscape Design with Missouri in Mind, Springfield, MO. Call 573-522-4170. Jan 12-13 - Practical Farmers of Iowa Annual Conference, Des Moines, IA. Call 515-232-5661. Jan 18 - Meat Goat Seminar, Anderson, MO. Call 417-223-4775. Jan 19-20 - American Heartland Aquaculture Conference, Whittington, IL www.moaa.pond.org Jan 19-21 - Wisconsin School for Beginning Market Gardeners, Madison, WI. Call 608-265-3020. Jan 20 - Missouri Christmas Tree Assn Winter Meeting, Jefferson City, MO. Call 660-457-3834. Jan 20-21 - Beginning Beekeeping Class, Columbia, MO. Call 573-474-8837. Jan 23-25 - Mid-America Fruit Growers Meeting, Excelsior Springs, MO. Call 573-882-9632. Jan 25-28 - Southern Sustainable Ag Working Group Conference, Louisville, KY. Call 678-494-0696, www.ssawg.org Jan 26-27 - MO Farmers Union 100th Anniversary Homecoming Convention, West Plains, MO. Call 573-659-4787. Jan 30 - Understanding Your Soil Test for Pasture and Hay Systems, Anderson, MO. Call 417-223-4775. Feb 2 - Women in Agriculture and Agriculture Landowners Conference, Marshall, MO. Call 660-886-6908. Feb 3 - 1st Annual Grazing Conference, Hannibal, MO. Call 573-985-8611 x 3. Feb 3-4 - MO Nut Growers Assn Evaluation & Show, Nevada, MO. Call 417-436-2351. Feb 3-5 - Midwest Wine & Grape Conference, Tan-Tar-A, MO. Call 1-800-392-WINE. Feb 12-14 - Missouri Small Fruit & Vegetable Conference, Springfield, MO. Feb 22-23 - Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference, LaCrosse, WI. Call 715-772-3153, cathy@mosesorganic.org March 1 - 23rd Annual Spring Forage Conference, Mt. Vernon, MO. Call 417-466-2148. March 16-17 - MO State Beekeepers Assn Spring Meeting, Jefferson City, MO. Call 660-826-4917. March 31 - Options for Small Acreages, Lebanon, MO. Call 417-532-7126. May 11-12 - Midwest Forest Industry Show, St Louis. Call 573-634-3252. Aug 9-19 - MO State Fair, Sedalia, MO.