There are many ways you can generate an income from woodland products – it all depends on your skills, time, energy and resources you can invest and, perhaps most importantly, the strength of your imagination and willingness to take a risk and try something!

However, we can break this down a bit further by thinking about the different categories of market opportunity.

Wholesale raw materials – this is what is termed high volume/low price products which need to be shifted in large quantities for other people to process and add value to. There is a general misconception that sales of this kind are exploitative, and quantities must be large. But this need not be the case and it maybe be possible to meet minimum quantities quite easily, plus you can pass you products on quickly with minimum processing, packaging and promoting.

Niche products – these are things that are sold to very specialised buyers in small quantities for high prices. This could be a special line of hypoallergenic soap, lichen to use as trees for model railway enthusiasts, or, perhaps a one-off sale of jay feathers for fishermen to make flies. Exploring the wide array of unusual products for sale on eBay is a good way to discover things that people pay good money for that you may not have thought of. Once again, a good imagination and a little creative thinking helps.

Speciality products – these are products that are produced by processing where you process what you harvest into a product which can be sold with lots of cache that it is sustainable, natural, help support woodland management etc.. However, although you might get a good return on the product you will have had to invest capital, time, equipment and ,most significantly, alert potential customers you have something for sale. The easiest way to do this is to sell locally, say at a farmer’s market or you could set up an internet shop. There are lots of opportunities – it depends on what you are willing to do.

Experiential products – these are opportunities to sell a product as part of an experience or, put another way, to use a product as a theme for generating an income, e.g. without willow you can’t run a basket weaving course, but only a tiny fraction of the course fee will cover the cost of the willow. The experiences you offer could be foraging, craft courses, gastronomic weekends, den building, canopy camping, etc, etc, etc!

So, there are many ways to make an income from your woodland but no one-size-fits all product or market that will work in any woodland. The opportunities are as diverse as the woodlands, species, locations and people that enjoy them.

If you haven’t already, take a virtual walk around the woods with Wild Resources Ltd to consider potential product options. The film is entitled Walk Around The Woodland.

For professional marketing support there are often grants, free advice and loans available for business start-ups. For example, Menter a Busnes, the Cwmpas and Business Wales all offer a range of different support services. We recommend you contact your local enterprise support agency for up to date information on available support…

Certification is another important consideration – there are lots of different certification schemes available that relate to sustainable harvesting, locally produced, etc. However, what is the value of certifying your product, what are the cost and resource implications and how will it benefit your business? Find out more by visiting our Certification page.