Profitability of poplar and hardwood broadleaves plantations in Italy

In Italy, forest tree crops cover an area of about 100.000 hectares of farmland: more than half are represented by specialized poplar plantations, while the remaining consists mainly of hardwood broadleaves plantations. The profitability of poplar and hardwood broadleaved plantations, assessed by field data collected on a representative number of plantation sites, was evaluated in terms of net present value and equivalent annual value under different levels of wood prices and in presence or absence of financial public incentives. Under current market conditions the investment in specialized poplar plantations is usually positive, even without subsidies. On the contrary, hardwood broadleaves plantations usually do not provide positive financial results without public incentives, while better financial results can be obtained by polycyclic plantations including both hardwood broadleaves (medium-long rotation) and hybrid poplar (short rotation) on the same parcel.