Private forests in Poland – the results of the questionnaire surveys covering the network of test forest holdings

Abstract

The research on a nationwide sample of 1,112 agricultural holdings with forest conducted by Forest Research Institute in 2007 provided information on private forests in the ownership of farmers. The collected data show that, due to their small area, forests in agricultural holdings play basically the role of a timber warehouse used by farmers for the household needs. In the case of larger holdings, private forests are a source of small income, due to their high fragmentation. Farmers generate very low income from forest, do not invest in forestry production means (machines and equipment), and they usually do forest operations by themselves.