Increased wood-fiber production: technology, economics, and ecology

Abstract

Forest tree improvement is a form of technological change, and it should be viewed as such. The economic objective of technological change is to increase productivity per dollar invested. This is accomplished through selection and breeding for increased growth rates or reduced losses to insects and disease. Programs which yield improved planting stock make forest investments more profitable by reducing initial costs. The empirical evidence to date (e.g., Davis 1967, Lundgren and King 1965) indicates that investments in forest tree improvement can and do pay off, sometimes rather well.

Parent Publication

• Joint proceedings of the 10th Lake States Forest Tree Improvement Conference & 7th Central States Forest Tree Improvement Conference, September 22-24, 1971.

Citation

Bentley, William R. 1973. Increased wood-fiber production: technology, economics, and ecology. In: Joint Proceedings of the Tenth Lake States Forest Tree Improvement Conference and the Seventh Central States Forest Tree Improvement Conference; Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-3. St. Paul, MN: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Forest Experiment Station. 26-29