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Missouri Department of Agriculture

Ag Business Development

Forest Products

Agriforestry encompasses many agriculture businesses, including timber production and harvesting, Christmas Tree farms, cultivated mushrooms, and by-products such as mulch, fuel pellets, woodchips and firewood.

Also included are non-traditional forest products (NTFPs) - these are biological and generally not cultivated products. Four categories exist: edibles (mushrooms, berries, fruits, nuts, herbs and spices), medicinal and dietary supplements, floral products and specialty wood products (produced directly from trees and not from purchased lumber or timber). Most recent estimates calculate that value-added processing in the timber industry adds $1,420M to Missouri’s economy. The sale of timber and related items totals $3B per year.

Along with timber products, forest farming and by-products such as mulch, fuel pellets and woodchips offer market opportunities. Marketing mushrooms fresh, canned or dehydrated offer both retail and wholesale opportunities. Another by-product with potential opportunities is converting sawdust to electricity.

Agroforestry is the use of land management practices that optimizes the benefits created when trees and/or shrubs are deliberately combined with crops and/or livestock. Agroforestry offers value added opportunities through implementation of windbreaks, silvopastures, riparian buffers, alley cropping.

General Agroforestry Resources:

• Missouri’s Department of Conservation
• USDA’s National Agroforestry Center
• Center for Agroforestry (University of Missouri)
• Department of Forestry (University of Missouri)
• USDA’s National Resources Conservation Services
• Community Forest Resource Center
• Forestry Program (Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy)
• Wood Products Cooperatives: Overview and Exploratory Analysis (Forest Products Journal article)
• Marketing Specialty Forest Products (University of Minnesota Extension)
• Marketing Exotic Mushrooms (Pennsylvania State University)

Associations and Organizations:

• Missouri Forest Products Associations
• Missouri State Tree Farm Program
• Specialty Mushroom Growers Association
• Missouri Christmas Tree Producers Association

Examples of Agroforestry Value-Added Businesses:

• Sustainable Woods Cooperative

Missouri Contacts to Assist You with Forestry Value-Added Projects:

• Mark Hitt, Ag Business Development, (866) 466-8283