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Legislation and policy makers have recognized private forest owners cooperation in machinery ring as an instrument to support wood mobilization through efficient use of machinery. The study analyzes private forest owner’s cooperation in the machinery ring in Slovenia and determines whether this cooperation contributes to wood mobilization from small-scale private forests. The research was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, the survey was conducted among the members of machinery rings at their annual general meetings (24 machinery rings participated in the survey, representing 64.9% of the total number of machinery rings). The questionnaire was distributed to all members present at the annual general meetings (n=529) and only those who were private forest owner or provided services within machinery rings were eligible to complete the questionnaire (n=438). In the second phase, data on the amount of service provided by machinery ring members were compared with the amount of felling in private forests for 2019 to gain insight into the extend of forestry work (timber harvesting) carried out in a private forest under neighbourhood assistance.The results show that machinery rings members are predominantly male, on average 50 years old, mainly with high school education and occupation in agriculture, owning on average 15.2 ha of forest. Regardless of forest management activities, machinery ring members perform forest management activities in their forest by themselves or with the help of family members. Only a small proportion of members use neighbourhood assistance to carry out the work. This most often occurs in the transport of timber. A very small proportion of members provide forest services through the machinery ring, but their scope of services is not insignificant. In 2019, machinery ring members most often performed harvesting activities with the chain saw, followed by timber skidding as a service. Equipment with machinery for providing services is good among members – about three quarters of them have a chainsaw and an adapted agricultural tractor, but this machinery is quite old, showing that machinery is insufficiently used for forestry operations. The results show that machinery rings are nowadays an essential part of strategic (operational) management in Slovenian agriculture and forestry, and provide important insights into the possibilities to improve forestry operations and the future development cooperation between private forest owners in machinery rings to support wood mobilization from small-scale private forests.

Z raziskavo, opravljeno v letu 2020, smo želeli ugotoviti stanje žagarske panoge v Sloveniji v letu 2019 (t.j. ocena števila obratov, ocena razžagane količine lesa, uporaba ostankov in vpliv pandemije covid-19 na poslovanje). Pred izvedbo raziskave smo iz različnih podatkovnih baz zbrali seznam 1.128 poslovnih subjektov, ki imajo kot C16 (Obdelava in predelava lesa) registrirano primarno ali sekundarno dejavnost. Izpolnjene vprašalnike nam je posredovalo 588 podjetij, od katerih se jih 328 ukvarja z razžagovanjem hlodovine. V letu 2019 je skupna evidentirana količina razžagane hlodovine znašala 1,71 milijona m3, od tega so z 84 % prevladovali iglavci. Žagarski obrati, ki so sodelovali v anketi, so v letu 2019 proizvedli 633.894 m3 žaganega lesa. Proizvodnja žagovine in lesnega prahu je znašala 237.389 ton, kosovnih ostankov pa 252.655 m3. Epidemija nalezljive bolezni covid-19 in ukrepi za njeno zajezitev so v obdobju od marca do maja 2020 (prvi val) vplivali na poslovanje podjetij v primarni lesnopredelovalni industriji 63 % sodelujočih podjetij v tem sklopu vprašanj je občutilo posledice epidemije. The main objective of the survey was to assess the current situation in the sawmill industry in Slovenia (i.e., the number of sawmills, the amount of wood cut, the use of residues and the impact of the covid-19 pandemic). Prior to the 2019 survey, a list of 1,128 enterprises was compiled from various databases that registered C16 (wood processing) as their main or secondary activity. Completed questionnaires were provided by 588 companies, 328 of which are involved in the sawmilling activities. The total volume of the sawn roundwood recorded in 2019 was 1.71 million m3, with conifers predominating at 84%. The sawmills that participated in the survey produced 633,894 m3 of sawn timber products, 237,389 tons of sawdust and 252,655 m3 of bulky residues. In addition, 63% of participating companies were affected by the covid-19 epidemic during the first wave between March and May 2020.