Since the 1970s tree planting has been promoted to meet the multipurpose needs of subsistence farmers and to arrest deforestation in many developing countries. Financial support and extension systems were developed as tree growing outside the forest became more important. The limited success of the forest extension approaches used in the 1980s has been attributed to the failure to ascertain householders' priorities and attitudes to tree growing. Although the broader theoretical paradigm of factors influencing householders' planting of trees has been discussed household and regional level analyses are rare. This study used discriminant analysis to assess the extent to which social and economic factors affect smallholder farmer tree planting in Orissa, eastern India. The validity of the predictive model to define the different groups was tested by assessing the accuracy of classification. The significance of the factors was probed using the identified variables in the discriminant functions developed for smallholder farmers in the coastal and inland zones of Orissa. The results contradicted some common assumptions that only large landowners with a substantial income are innovators. The likelihood of adopting agroforestry is dependent on the progressive attitude of farmers, membership of village organisations, their wealth status and, more importantly, their perceived risk concerning agricultural production. This approach enables tree planters and non-planters to be characterised and hence give better targetting of planning and social forestry programmes.

As the amount and complexity of information relating to the development of bioenergy systems increases so does the problem of how to handle the information in a manner which is helpful for decision making. Hypertext-based information systems and decision support systems are being developed to aid deployment of bioenergy systems.

In many developing countries biomass is the major source of energy. The continued dependence of the rural populace on biofuels, especially the demand for fuelwood, affects both forest and agricultural systems. Forest policy has to integrate energy needs in its afforestation strategy for rural areas to meet the demand for fuelwood. A regional study was made to analyse household energy consumption and to test the commonly held beliefs that scarcity of wood will lower the consumption and a higher demand for wood motivates people to plant trees. The paper examines the pattern of biomass fuel use in rural India and the supply effects on household consumption. The analyses showed that socioeconomic factors influence bioenergy use, but scarcity of forests does not lower the demand for biofuels nor is it a driving force for farm level forestry. Household based analysis from a user perspective provided useful information on the dynamics of bioenergy which can aid development of regional microplans for the forestry and energy sectors.

Large-scale field trials of short-rotation coppice with willow and poplar have been studied since the mid-1980s in the UK. The information and results gained from these trials are presented, particularly with respect to operations, productivity and costs. Current methods for site selection, establishment, management practice, pests and diseases, harvesting and storage of short-rotation coppice crops are described and discussed. In the UK, the ability of short-rotation coppice to compete with conventional agricultural crops is still heavily dependent on the subsidies available for short-rotation coppice and the crop in question. Analysis of a wide range of data from field trials in Europe and North America showed that average levels of productivity ranged from 2 to 13.5odt/ha/year. The assumption that short-rotation coppice productivity increases from the first to second and subsequent rotations is not borne out in practice. Productivity levels may be increased in future through improved management practice and clonal materials, but it is unlikely that the predictions made in the early 1980s will be achieved in practice.

The evolution of integrated harvesting systems is examined and progress recorded from early systems studies, through development of optimal allocation models to the uptake of integrated systems in commercial harvesting operations. The progress that has been made in the introduction of integrated harvesting systems has been as a result of technological improvements to the harvesting equipment, and to supply incentives which have raised delivered wood fuel prices. The introduction of integrated harvesting operations has realised benefits to the forest stand in terms of stand health and reduced fire hazard.

A spreadsheet-based decision support system has been developed that allows easy evaluation of integrated biomass to electricity and biomass to ethanol systems. The Bioenergy Assessment Model (BEAM) has been developed to allow the techno-economic assessment of biomass to electricity and biomass to ethanol schemes, including investigation of the interfacing issues. Technical and economic parameters can be assessed for a variety of feedstocks, conversion technologies and generating cycles. A spreadsheet format has been used to make the model inherently expandable: new system options can be added by adding new spreadsheets and making minor adjustments to the executive program that links the spreadsheets together. Production modules are currently available for biomass supply from short rotation coppice and conventional forestry relevant to conditions and practices in NW Europe. The biomass conversion modules include pre-treatment (reception, storage, handling, comminution, screening and drying); atmospheric gasification (generic gasifier, wet gas scrubbing, dual fuel engine); pressure gasification (generic gasifier, hot gas filtration, gas turbine combined cycle); fast pyrolysis for liquid bio-fuel-oil (pyrolyser, oil storage, pilot-injected diesel engine); combustion (fluid bed combuster steam turbine), conventional acid hydrolysis fermentation and the NREL SSF process to ethanol. In addition there is a further module which can be used to examine the collection, mass burn and generation of electricity from MSW. BEAM has been used, and the results presented in this paper, to determine the costs of generating bio-electricity from short rotation coppice and conventional forestry over a range of power outputs and for each conversion technology. Alternative feedstock supply strategies have been examined and relations drawn between delivered feedstock cost and cost of electricity. Sensitivity analysis reveals that the cost of bio-electricity production from short rotation coppice is highly sensitive to the yield of the crop. BEAM has been shown to work well with the systems under consideration and is capable of further development. The long term aim is to provide a simple model with on-line help and information that will allow biomass systems developers to make initial assessments of the feedstock and technology options that are available and to direct research and development towards the more promising areas.

The achievements of Task IX Harvesting and Supply of Woody Biomass for Energy are discussed. The main achievements are an increased industrial involvement in the Task, an improved contact between researchers dealing with ecological issues and those working with R,D&D of harvesting and supply systems, development of a spread-sheet decision support system to evaluate integrated biomass to heat or electricity systems, and a greater awareness of the importance to control and improve fuel feedstock quality in all stages of harvesting and supply systems.

The objective of the work of the Activity was to develop and assess new cultural techniques in short rotation forestry(SRF), and to investigate factors affecting yield optimisation. Nine countries participated in the work (Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, UK, USA and CEC). The high level of interest in the work of the activity is a reflection of the increasing importance of short rotation forestry, particularly coppice, in many of the participating countries where it is being used to produce heat or electricity. The main elements of the work involved. Collection of information on SRF cultural treatments Collection of data on yield, spacing and rotation length Collection of data on costs of production and economic analysis of short rotation coppice production systems Revision of the production systems handbook Development of a coppice decision support system which articulates with a computerised information system for SRF production. Liaison has been maintained with the other Task VIII activities concerned with short rotation forestry and the Mechanisation Activity of Task IX. Data has been collected from many of the participating countries on the relationship between clone/site/spacing/cutting cycles. Similarly, data has been collected on the economics of SRF production systems. This information has beet? analysed and the results presented. The Production Systems Handbook has been updated with information provided by the participating countries. Significant advances have been made in Sweden where most of the short rotation forestry for energy is grown, around 11,000 hectares currently. A computerised version of the Production Systems Handbook has been produced. This information system has been developed using spreadsheets and utilises Visual Basic to run the program and provide a User interface with the underlying information and data on yield and economics.

Wood for energy will be available from conventional forestry and from short rotation coppice plantations. The systems of production, harvesting and supply are discussed with reference to the environmental and economic issues which bound them. Recent developments and bottlenecks to implementation are discussed.

Short rotation forestry has been investigated since the 1960's. The development of programmes for reseirch in different countries is outlined, analysing the reasons for implementing certain strategies. The driving forces behind the renewed interest in short rotation plantations are assessed. Information has been eathered from short rotation forestry trials in the UK managed by thewwood Supply Research Group, aid similar work overseas, on productivity, biology, costs and logistics of various establishment, management and harvesting systems. In this paper, production strategies are outlined, focusing on recent advances. Models have been developed on a spreadsheet to analyse the economics of production. A sensitivity analysis of the economics involving several variable parameters and different costing methods is presented. The impact of technological developments on delivered wood fuel supply is highlighted. A decision support system which is under development is also outlined.