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High Demand For Timber Is A Boom Waiting To Happen
Despite our being in the depths of a global economic recession , timber has never been in greater demand for use both in construction and as an energy source. Since our ancestors first learnt to use fire, make spears and build rudimentary dwellings, wood has been the principal material used to improve living standards. Timber has always played an essential role in the development of civilisation for it is a unique material with countless applications. The recent development of more sophisticated timber products has been rapid and it seems only a few years since I was offered sawdust for free to use as cattle and horse bedding. But now, every speck is required for the manufacture of wood pellets for fuel. While some problems have occurred with small home heating pellet units, the savings compared with purchasing oil or electricity are huge for the larger industrial units heating swimming pools, hospitals, hotels and other high-energy applications which all require fuel throughout the year. Prices for wood are going through the roof and the price of hardwood from Western Canada has risen by approximately 60pc since the end of 2011. The use of wood chip and logs for heating has also grown dramatically. The big question now is where will all this timber come from? Just one power station could get through an entire year’s supply from the private woodland sector if burning timber alone. Laminated beams and arches can now span greater distances than traditional wooden beams without the use of supporting columns. These beams have been used in the construction of bridges and even sports stadia and, being lighter than steel or concrete, are easier to transport and erect. Mixed species woodland has numerous advantages including increased protection against disease. The Pro Silva organisation hosted a field trip to Rahin Woods near Kinnegad recently where we saw mixed species woodland with some fine oak planted in the 1930s growing alongside beech and some assorted species of conifers. Leading the event was Phil Morgan, president of Pro Silva Europe. Continuous cover woodland management has many attractions for owners of farm forests and is a system I hope to apply to my own woods for its benefits have already been proven in many countries. Forestry in Ireland is still in its infancy and we have a lot to learn from our European counterparts. Continue reading
The Paradoxes Of EU Agricultural Policy
The European Union is among the world’s top five exporters of agricultural products with USA, Brazil, China and Argentina, and it is among the world’s top five importers of agricultural products with USA, China, Japan and Russia. Agriculture is one of the most important sectors of social and economic development within the EU. Over the years, the aims of EU agricultural policy have been to develop a competitive economy and create harmony among EU Countries. However, the result of this work has been a fragmented, contradictory, and unworkable legislative framework that threatens economic disaster. A review on the paradoxes of European agricultural policies will be published soon on the Journal Trends in Plant Science . In this review, the authors present case studies, in which the differences in the regulation applied to food grown in EU Countries and to the same imported products are noted. The highlighted differences show that the EU is hampering its own competitiveness in agriculture and consequently damaging both the EU and its humanitarian activities in the developing world. The review is especially focused on genetically engineered crops. It is not clear why the common agricultural policy (CAP) establishes restrictive measures for EU agricultural productions but the same measures are not observed for the same products imported from the countries where genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are authorized and thresholds of mycotoxines are lower. This is only one of the several paradoxes of the EU agricultural policy that, giving strict thresholds only to its own productions, is reducing the competitiveness of European agricultural on the world market. Another example of political inefficiency regards the subsidies policy that has a positive effect in short time but is not a significant tool to develop a competitive economy in the long term. The authors underline the need to implement the biotechnological findings, to harmonize and rationalize the common policy on both the EU production and genetically engineered crops importation, to harmonize the current measures of Member States and reduce the differences among them, to decentralize the rural economy measures and allow the farmers to use cost-saving technologies that can enhance the sustainability of the agricultural systems, etc. Finally, the authors conclude recommending the adoption of rational, science-based strategies to harmonize the different agricultural policies to prevent the economic decline and the reduction of living quality across the European Union. Source: Masip G., Sabalza M., Perez-Massot E., Banakar R., Cebrian D., Twyman R.M., Capell T., Albajes R., Christou P., ‘ Paradoxical EU agricultural policies on genetically engineered crops ’, Trends in Plant Science , 2013, in press. Publication date: 5/9/2013 Author: Emanuela Fontana Continue reading
"A Day In The Life of A Real Estate Investor"
UNLOCK The Truth Of How To Make A Fortune From The Current REAL ESTATE MARKET Manipulation and Toxic Debt Bubble. My new audio program reveals how. ORDER TOD… Continue reading
