Terms like "risk compensation" and "product diversification" are being used in almost all areas of life today. They are based on the experience, that in the face of multiple risks, it is not advantageous to stake everything on one chance. In his famous Nobel-prize awarded study of 1952, Harry Markowitz examined the influence of mixing financial investments (so called portfolios) on risk. He reached the conclusion that under certain circumstances a mixture can lead to significantly reduced risks compared to a single investment.

In this project this approach is transferred to the diversification of forest products in Germany. The desired result is the deduction of optimal mixtures of forest products.