Metsä Group and Risutec have jointly developed an accessory with which forwarders can prepare soil while harvesting logging residue. This improves productivity and helps reduce fossil emissions from forestry.
Metsä Group and Risutec, a Finnish manufacturer of forestry machinery, share the goal of developing mechanised forest management. Soil preparation is a key measure in forest regeneration. It helps seedlings and seeds start growing and reduces damage to seedlings.
“This new accessory will make soil preparation increasingly efficient and environmentally friendly. Combining the work stages will also bring relief to the busy forest management season in the spring,” says Juho Rantala, SVP, Development from Metsä Group.
“The idea of the new accessory is to enable the use of forwarders for both preparing soil and harvesting logging residue. The accessory can be quickly detached from and mounted on the forwarder. You can alternate between preparing soil and harvesting logging residue and then transporting wood,” says Jussi Aikala, CEO of Risutec.
Having the same forwarder harvest logging residue and prepare the soil avoids one machinery transfer stage. This reduces emissions across the wood supply chain. Another goal is to retain the high quality of soil preparation and reduce soil preparation costs on sites suitable for the method.
Metsä Group systematically develops new forestry technology with partners. The new accessory is a continuation to the Asta application developed with Risutec, which calculates and reports the density of mound locations in real time as work progresses. The application is extensively used by Metsä Group’s contract entrepreneurs.
“Our goal for this cooperation is for Risutec to get a product from it. We will then promote it among our contract entrepreneurs and as a service for forest owners,” Rantala says.
According to Risutec’s Aikala, the company would not have initiated the development project without Metsä Group’s input. “A key element in development work is to ensure that real demand exists for the new product.”
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