Since the profitability of non-industrial private forestry is of great interest and the state of the art regarding data availability is not clear, the aim of this paper is to describe the current arrangements for monitoring costs and revenues in nonindustrial private forestry in selected European countries, and to present this information in the particular context of forestry and land use in those countries. The practical bottlenecks in getting comparable information on the profitability of NIPF will be identified, both at the national and international level. The need for profitability information on NIPF has been discussed above. In the following chapter, the basic concepts will be clarified with regard to the size and ownership of forest enterprises as well as the economic measures of profitability. The current situation of cost and revenue monitoring of NIPF in several European countries will then be presented, with special reference to the status that exists in Austria, Finland, Germany, Great Britain and Switzerland. Based on those national reports and experiences, the practical problems in producing statistically valid information on forestry costs and revenues will be discussed and summarised in the subsequent chapter. In conclusion, further research and practical steps needed to produce countrywide and regional empirical data on teh costs and revenues of NIPF on a continuing basis will be proposed.
