Back in March our partners CloudForest released a report on challenges in the UK’s small-scale timber supply chain. Homewood bound? Challenges along the UK’s small-scale timber supply chain from forest to construction, delves into the issues across the wood-chain resulting from 29 in-depth interviews conducted with woodland owners, woodland managers, contractors, sawmillers, and individuals in construction.
Key findings from the report include:
- A lack of market transparency impedes businesses and leads to a reliance on trust
- Sawmills lack confidence in supply of logs, and find matching supply with demand difficult
- Power imbalances exist between entities of radically different sizes
- Low pay drives recruitment issues and difficulties in successfully engaging contractors
- Communication barriers hinder coordination and contribute to industry exclusivity
- Across different cohorts and levels of experience there are substantial differences in knowledge of standard industry practices
CloudForest have now set up a blog sharing bite-sized highlights of some of the issues that came out of the report. Addressing these issues will support increased resilience for both our woodlands and timber industry.
At Sylva we have been working with partners for the last 15 years to both assess and support small-scale timber supply chains and this report shows how much there is to do. We are delighted to be working with CloudForest and Evolving Forests (through a Forestry Innovation Fund project supported by Forestry Commission) which is supporting the development of the CloudForest platform. CloudForest is looking to bridge information and financial gaps through the development of digital tools that connect forests, processing facilities, and construction.
In the coming months we will be working on how users could link woodland inventory information held within myForest to the CloudForest Marketplace. The idea behind this is to support woodland owners and managers to find the best buyer for their timber. This will also provide more visibility of what timber is out there, allowing sawmills and others in the wood-chain to plan for the future. Ultimately we hope end-users will be better connected to the powerful story and environmental benefits behind homegrown timber.
