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Timber set to star: research, energy production, carbon trading.

Article Excerpt
Timber is big business in Mississippi, generating $1.1 billion worth of forest products in 2007, second only to the $2.33 billion in sales of poultry and eggs as the most valuable agriculture commodity in the state.

Although 2007 was the 15th year that sales of forest products were more than $1 billion in Mississippi, total harvest value in 2007 was down 9.2% from 2006. This decline resulted from lower harvest volumes and lower prices, particularly for pine sawlogs, said James Henderson, assistant Extension professor, Mississippi State University.

"Mississippi's forest landowners collected $630.8 million for their standing timber in 2007," Henderson said. "The estimated value of the logging and transportation sector was $470 million, which is the difference between the delivered and standing values. Severance tax collections on forest products were $3,537,091 in 2007."

Abundant supply

The future could bring many more uses--and economic gain--from the state's abundant supply of trees. A promising new market that is beginning to develop is bioenergy produced from woody biomass.

"Potential sources of woody biomass include low-value forest products such as residues from...

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