VIDEO: A Wooden Board Meeting

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI News) – It’s been held in cities all over the world and now this long-time annual conference finds itself in Starkville.

This is the 71st annual Forest Product Society (or F.P.S.) International Conference.

Normally you would find this in a larger city, but because of the impact Mississippi has on the global lumber industry these reps from other states and other countries are brainstorming in our area about the future of the industry.

For the next few days, forestry leaders from 17 different countries will be discussing the future of forestry.

“We bring together industry and academics and government people, as well, at the federal, state, and local levels, and we really talk about a number of different areas, the whole spectrum that deals with wood products and forest products,” said F.P.S. President, Rich Vlosky.

It may seem strange that a conference like this would be held in our area, but the impact that the state, as well as Mississippi State University, has on the forestry community might surprise you.

“We use 4% of the land to provide 19% of the pulp, the paper, and the wood for the rest of the world, so Mississippi forest product industry is very efficient,” said MSU Forestry Associate Professor, Hui Wan.

If you think that all these reps talk about is different kinds of wood, trees, and boards, you’d be wrong.

“We’re also talking about cutting edge types of technologies, such as nano-technology. There’s an awful lot of work being done with wood at the nano level to make all sorts of new products. Even batteries can be made from wood, now,” said Vlosky.

Events like this help get industrial leaders from around the world on the same page to advance the future of forestry.

“It’s, you know, important for us to learn from each other in what different people are doing in different countries and what kind of innovations they have in technology, especially in their specialty of research and take that back to their home country to really improve their production processing,” said F.P.S. President-Elect, David Devallance.

This F.P.S. is the largest forestry society in the world, with almost a thousand members.

The conference ends on Wednesday.