Poplars and other fast-growing tree species in Germany: Report of the National Poplar Commission 2020-2023

Every four years, the National Poplar Commissions reports on the progress of the International Poplar Commission IPC, one of the oldest, firmly established organizations of the FAO (Organization for Food and Agriculture of the United Nations). The reports will be collected and published for the 27th session of the International Poplar Commission in Bordeaux in October 2024. For Germany, the Thünen Institute of Forest Genetics is compiling the report on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. With the reform of the Poplar Commission, the tree species spectrum was expanded to include also other fast-growing tree species despite poplars and willows. In Germany, in addition to poplars and willows, 12 other tree species are considered fast-growing. Based on the figures from the Federal Forest Inventory (2012), the area of fast-growing tree species is 1.645 million ha. The most common fast-growing tree species is Betula pendula (474 700 ha) followed by Alnus glutinosa (229 250 ha), Larix decidua (223 600 ha), Pseudotsuga menziesii (217 600 ha) and Populus spec. (147 900 ha, incl. willow SRC). The current cultivation of poplars and willows is largely limited to short rotation coppice plantations (SRC). In Germany the total short rotation coppice area is currently stagnating at 6 600 hectares. The factors responsible for this are attractive alternative crops, in particular maize cultivation for biogas, combined with the extensive ban on the conversion of grassland and a lack of impetus from the Greening Regulation passed at EU level. No poplar clones were approved in the reporting period. An extension of the approval was recommended for 4 aspen clones. Furthermore, changes to the approval as basic material for the production of forest reproductive material in the "Tested" category were recommended for several parents of families for the production of hybrid larch progenies. A total of 17 research projects and 38 joint research projects (with together 117 projects) carried out at 60 institutions in Germany on the genetics and breeding, cultivation, physiology, resistance of fast-growing tree species and the harvesting and short-utilization of their wood, as well as on socio-economic and socio-ecological aspects were funded by third parties and have been included in the report. Also, 142 publications are listed in the report.