A recent article in Forestry Journal on the price of timber got people talking. Here we publish one of the responses sent to the Editor. 

Thank you very much for publishing one of the most relevant and well-put-together articles by Mr Digby Guy in the October 2021 issue (‘Voices of Forestry, Response: “Selling by the tonne is a nonsense”’, Forestry Journal 326).

Mr Guy’s response accurately voiced the opinion of many within the forest industry who must bear the cost of the ‘Angel’s Share’ – namely the landowner and the contractor. 

In an industry where margins are always going to be tight, a unit of measurement which is constant and not subject to weight loss being furthered by the expansion of roadside stocks would benefit the sector as a whole and not just the select few.

READ MORE: Digby Guy offers his take on payment for timber debate

This would also help to improve the quality of the work undertaken and the levels of wood recovery, rather than stoking the temptation to ‘hash’ through a site as quickly as possible in the hope that your timber is uplifted before the angels notice and reduce any financial gains.

As a landowner, haulier, shipping owner and ex-harvesting contractor, I wholeheartedly agree with Mr Guy that things have to change both to keep and encourage landowners and contractors to invest in the forest industry and to mitigate the financial lottery of timings between felling and uplift.

Regards,
Calum Boyd
Director, Boyd Brothers Haulage