The forest in Finland has a very important role in the lives of Finns. We could verify it, in the trip to Finland recently organized by the European Commission for the press, and in which Agrodigital.com had the opportunity to participate.

75% of Finland’s area is forested, that is, around 25 million hectares are forest. In addition, 20% of Finnish exports are related to forest products. Unlike in other countries, a large part of the forests are privately owned (approximately 60% according to FAO data). Almost one Finnish family in five owns a piece of forest.

In the agricultural sector, the forest plays a very important role in the survival of Finnish farms. A large part of them has a forest area. The forest utilization allows farmers to have an additional income. Many Finnish farms would have to close without this extra money.

There are also families that live in the city, without farming assets, but they have forest. On average, each family owner has about 30 hectares of forest. Forests, although privately owned, are not fenced. Sometimes they are crossed by roads and people can go into them, to walk, to camp or to pick up mushrooms or firewood.

Both farms and private families rarely take care of the management and use of forests by themselves. Therefore, there are cooperatives and companies in charge. It is the case of Metsalitto Coop, which it is a cooperative with 103,000 members and 85 years old.

In Finland, forests are managed as other productive sector. The owners get wood and wood, with a price of € 60/ 3 and € 20/m3, respectively. The forests are also responsible for 15% of Finland’s renewable energy. The trees cutting is done in organized way, so that there are no deforested areas. After logging, the trees are planted again.

Finland’s forest is very different from the forests in the center of the EU, such as those in Germany and France. The main difference is that they are short-lived forests, unlike those in central Europe, full of centuries-old trees. If you do not cut Finnish trees, they die without becoming centenarians. They are cut at the age of 80, approximately.

Brussels has prepared a proposal regulation about forestry. Finns try to explain to the european politicians that it is not possible to establish the same rules throughout the EU, because each country has its own type of forest.

Finns receive a lot of critics for cutting down trees but they answer that forest management is important for the survival of farms and therefore, to keep the people in rural world. Besides and even more important: Finnish forests grow more what they are cut. The growth rate of the forest area between 2014-17 has been 143 m3 / ha.