Private forest owners with and without agricultural background in the canton of Bern
2014
Zabel, A., Hochschule fuer Agrar-, Forst- und Lebensmittelwissenschaft HAFL, Zollikofen(Switzerland) | Dittgen, A.
In Switzerland, private forest ownership was traditionally closely tied to agricultural farms. With the ongoing structural change in the agricultural sector, there is a growing number of private forest owners who do not have an agricultural background. In order to design policy measures, e.g. to increase wood harvest in private forests, it is necessary to understand the aims and motivations of these owners. This paper investigates to what extent private forest owners without an agricultural background differ from those with such a background. The analysis builds on empirical data collected in a representative, mail survey among private forest owners in the canton of Bern. Contrary to a wide-spread assertion that forest owners without an agricultural background have little forest-specific knowledge and lack interest in their forests, this study finds that they are often interested and estimate to have a high degree of knowledge. In accordance with studies conducted in Austria and Germany the results show that to forest owners without an agricultural background generating income from their forests is often a secondary goal. Leisure and recreation are often given higher priority.
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