RAYMOND, Miss. — Mississippi’s 2023 timber harvest is expected to set a record for the 21st century. “We are on pace to exceed 36 million tons of timber harvested, which would be the highest level we have experienced this century, surpassing the previous high set in 2005 prior to the Great Recession,” said Eric McConnell, an associate professor of forest business at Mississippi State University. The increased harvest helped Mississippi’s forestry industry remain in third place among the state’s agricultural commodities, with an estimated production value of $1.5 billion. That is a 9.6% increase from 2022. …Homebuilding drives the consumption and production of softwood lumber and is one of the main economic indicators of the forestry industry. …Another bright spot for Mississippi’s industry is the opening of new mills over the last few years, which has added 1.3 billion board feet of pine lumber capacity to the state’s sawmill industry.