Mississippi is well known for harvesting a multitude of crops, including corn and cotton.

However, new data shows that farmers are converting their crops over to tree farming. A Mississippi forestry representative says there's a reason why farmers are cashing in on timber products.

"Timber impacts our lives every day, from paper to lumber, to build houses to pencils," said Bill Kitchings of the Mississippi Forestry Commission. "The timber industry is out there and if we look around we see so many things that we get from the timber industry."

Most of Mississippi's forests are owned by private, non-industrial landowners. Because of this, Mississippi was the first state in the nation to establish a reforestation tax credit that encourages landowners to replant after each harvest.

This allows the forestry industry to maintain a long-term beneficial economic plan.

"Planting timber is not going to be a short term investment, " said Kitchings. "If you're planting timber, you're looking at a 30-35-40 years down the road before you get your return."

Nevertheless, the forestry industry continues to prosper.

"We're seeing a lot more open land, pasture land, crop land, that is being converted and being planted with trees now," said Kitchings.

Currently, the forestry industry pays out over $4 billion in wages for the state of Mississippi and accounts for 8.5% of all jobs in the state.

Mississippi has almost 20 million acres of forest land. That's almost 2-thirds of the land in the entire state. Seventy percent of that is owned by private, non-industrial landowners.