A new UF/IFAS analysis, summarized this week by local reporters, finds Florida’s forest industry propping up a hefty slice of the state economy. The study says the sector generated nearly $29 billion in total economic output in 2023 and supported more than 103,000 jobs. Roughly 16.76 million acres of forest cover the state, feeding a manufacturing chain that turns trees into lumber, paper, packaging and renewable biomass energy. For many rural towns, that scale makes timber a core economic lifeline even as storms, mill shutdowns and development pressure keep creeping closer.
As reported by the Tampa Free Press, the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) analysis credits the sector with more than $1.79 billion in exports last year and again notes roughly 16.76 million acres of forest across the state. Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson told reporters the findings underscore that "Florida’s forest industry is a major economic driver for our state," and state officials point to public-private partnerships as central to keeping forests productive.
How the study measures economic impact
The UF/IFAS Economic Impact Analysis Program relies on input-output modeling to tally direct, indirect and induced effects up and down the forestry supply chain, so those headline totals wrap in factory sales, supplier purchases and household spending that trace back to the woods. The need for consistent methods is explored in a 2023 analysis in the Journal of Forestry, which UF economists have used to refine statewide estimates so they are speaking the same economic language from year to year.
North Florida carries the weight, and the risks
While forestland blankets nearly half the state, the real engine of the timber economy sits in the Panhandle and north-central counties, where mills and logging operations anchor local payrolls. Florida Trend reports that hurricane damage since 2018 and recent mill closures, including high-profile shutdowns in Perry, have hollowed out wood baskets and added urgency to efforts to rebuild processing capacity before more rural jobs slip away.
Policy, recovery dollars and caveats
State and federal recovery programs have pumped in money to help landowners replant and mills restart, but the eye-catching totals still move around depending on the base year and model assumptions. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection notes that earlier UF-based calculations, adjusted for inflation, put total output in a similar multibillion range, a reminder that accounting choices can nudge reported job counts and output figures up or down.
Industry leaders and UF economists say the latest numbers argue for sustained investment in mills, workforce training and forest resilience to protect rural livelihoods that depend on steady timber checks. As industry groups and UF researchers told the Tampa Free Press, the study is designed to capture the full scale of the sector and to guide policy decisions that keep both forests and local economies in working shape.
