Note: This is the fifth and final post for this newsletter in November 2022. Each post focuses on the research capacity in the forestry sector. Read the past posts on this topic here.
I’ve been writing this month about the challenges of research capacity within the forestry sector. Here is a summary of this month’s themes:
- Research funding within the forestry sector is about $600 million. Federal funding comprises about two-thirds of this funding.
- The number of forest research scientists has declined 12% from 2002 to 2016. This decline is seen in forest industry researchers, University faculty, and US Forest Service scientists.
- Since 1985, the number of Forest Service scientists in all job series have declined except for one: ecologists. This reflects the trends in multiple use management and interdisciplinary research.
- The wood products sector invests 0.6% of its revenue into R&D, while the pulp and paper sector contributes 0.5%. This is minimal compared to other US manufacturers where companies invest 2.4% of their total sales on average into R&D efforts.
With these themes in mind, what are some solutions to garnering more support for forestry research in the US?
Fortunately there is much work underway to solve forestry’s research capacity problem. The 2020-21 Forest and Forest Products R&D Capacity Summit brought together over 70 leaders from private, state, federal, and university forest and forest products organizations to strategize forestry R&D priorities, capacities, and funding. Last year the Society of American Foresters released a position statement outlining the need for increased R&D efforts in the forest sector.
A new model of prioritizing and funding forestry research is sorely needed. Forest industry-university research cooperatives have been established for 50+ years in the US and are an excellent model that prioritizes and conducts forestry research. However, these cooperatives typically operate at a regional level (e.g., the US Southeast; state of Maine) and are often focused on one or a few disciplines (e.g., forest modeling; tree improvement).
The R&D Capacity Summit highlighted several models that operate at a national level that could serve as a national model for forest and forest products sector research and development. Here are a few of potential models that forestry should consider, with some drawn from the agricultural community.
- The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) is a public-private partnership model that was authorized in 2014 in the US Farm Bill. It has a board of directors and an advisory council in each of six challenge areas. The Foundation uses public funds allocated to them in the Farm Bill that are then matched by private industry, often garnering more than a 1:1 match. Its staff is 35+.
- Supporters of Agricultural Research (SoAR) is a “coalition working to educate stakeholders about the importance of agricultural research and focus more of our best minds on feeding America and the world.” It focuses on advocacy of federal funding, especially for the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI).
- The Council on Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economics (C-FARE) translates knowledge generated by agricultural and applied economics professionals into educational programming directed to policy-makers. This includes Congressional staff, stakeholders, and leaders in the federal administration. The Council is designed to be a bridge between the academic research community, policymakers, and agency leaders.
- The Center for Advanced Forestry Systems (CAFS) is a National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (NSF I/UCRC) that bridges top academic research programs with forest industry members to solve complex, industry-wide problems. It has received over $2.5 million in total membership contributions from 84 members. Currently, CAFS has more than 50 faculty, students, research assistants, and post-docs conducting regional and national research across seven university sites.
- FPInnovations is a private not-for-profit R&D organization that specializes in the creation of solutions that accelerate the growth of the Canadian forest sector and its affiliated industries to enhance their global competitiveness. The organization focuses on (1) pulp, paper, and bioproducts, (2) wood products, and (3) forest operations. It received $65 million in revenue in 2021. Of that, 45% was from federal agreements, 19% from provincial agreements, 17% from industry memberships, 11% from industry contracts.
There may not be a silver bullet which can solve the forestry sector’s research challenges. But looking into other models from the agricultural sector and elsewhere might lead us on the right trail.
