Poultry and forestry contribute $43 billion annually to Alabama’s economy, with most of the 210,000 poultry and forestry related jobs in rural areas of the state. This project aims at advancing rural Alabama by leveraging and applying modern technology to these two industries. Our focus will be on the forestry industry by partnering with stakeholders to learn about key issues/challenges and develop technology solutions to improve the industry’s competitiveness and sustainability.

 

Project Objectives Related to the Forestry Industry:

1) Develop technology solutions and market intelligence that will help landowners, loggers, and processors of timber improve their competitiveness and sustainability;

2) Promote technologies that will advance the timber industry;

3) Predict and protect against cyber-physical vulnerabilities in the timber industry; and

4) Facilitate the development of new case studies that provide a vision for new opportunities in the forestry industry in Alabama and the rural South.