The Present State and Prospects of Slovenian Private Forest Owners' Cooperation within Machinery Rings

The study analyzes the challenges and prospects of private forest owners' cooperation based on the use of machinery in Slovenia applying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats approach (SWOT analysis) in combination with the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The data from questionnaires with forest owners and presidents of machinery rings were used to develop and to analyze the strategies for forest owners' cooperation. The results reveal that the members of machinery rings are only partly satisfied with the operation of the existing rings and that the activities of rings meet the members' interests related to forest management. Thus, machinery rings are recognized as a suitable form of forest owners' cooperation. The presidents of machinery rings perceive the integration of farmers and private forest owners, as well as knowing the level of mechanization of members as major strengths of machinery rings. Further, strengthening the operation of machinery rings in the field of forestry is recognized as an important opportunity. The shortage of means for operation is identified as a weakness for machinery rings, and the lack of subsidies for investments in equipment is identified as a critical threat. However, the rank of importance of the SWOT groups leads to defensive approach in the strategic planning where machinery rings have to minimize weaknesses in order to avoid threats. These results provide important insights in the future development of forest owners' cooperation based on common use of machinery.