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LVM Tests in Practice the Latest Mechanization Solutions for Forestry

The development of technologies provides support for innovative mechanization solutions in the implementation of the responsible forest management cycle, while ensuring safety and efficiency of the workers, as well as helping to solve the problem of labour shortage in the forest sector. Currently, JSC “Latvia's State Forests” (LVM) is testing the suitability and effectiveness of low-power equipment in the tending of young forest stands without preparing wood assortments and is conducting equipment tests in Vidzeme.

“We already conducted tests of the equipment in practice back in 2017 to evaluate its efficiency; this year, we are repeating these tests. Malva and Vimek harvesters are equipped with saw blade heads for tending young forest stands. After the practical tests carried out in production conditions and the analysis of the data obtained, we will be able to decide on the implementation of the relevant service in production,” says Edmunds Linde, LVM Forestry Planning Manager.

For reforestation and replanting, LVM uses soil preparation technology by preparing the soil in strips with active disc ploughs, making piles with excavators or rotary loaders and planting forests with excavators. These technologies have already proven themselves in Latvia. In turn, mechanized forest sowing was carried out this year on an area of 0.7 thousand hectares and planting with excavators in the territory managed by LVM on an area of 700 hectares, which is 11 % of the total amount of planting or forest restoration work.

“The main reason why the introduction of mechanization is so essential is the lack of manual labour in forestry work. However, the relatively low labour productivity when planting with an excavator also affects the cost of the service. Therefore, a different approach is needed in mechanized forest planting, which would ensure a significantly higher efficiency of the technology. Therefore, next spring, we plan to conduct tests of new equipment in Latvian conditions; this equipment is currently already being used in South America and Scandinavia. It is PlantmaX produced in Sweden – a semi-automated forwarder-based planting system,” says Edmunds Linde, LVM Forestry Planning Manager.

“The mechanization of forestry work is increasingly entering the forest planting and maintenance works. The forestry sector, like other sectors of the economy, is experiencing a labour shortage. By increasing the scope of mechanization work, we can increase work productivity and complete the work with fewer human resources. However, the use of manual tools in forestry will also be necessary in the future – we will see workers in the forest with planting barrels and brush cutters in their hands for a long time to come,” says Mārtiņš Gūtmanis, Executive Director of LVM Forestry.

LVM will reforest a total of 18.3 thousand hectares by sowing or planting in 2023: 1.3 thousand hectares – by mechanized planting, 11.4 thousand hectares – by planting with hand tools, around 4.9 thousand hectares will be left to regenerate naturally, while 0.7 thousand hectares will be restored by sowing. During this year's reforestation season, a total of more than 28 million top-quality forest seedlings selected at the LVM Sēklas und stādi, grown in tree nurseries, will be planted in the State forests; these seedlings are faster growing, with greater wood growth and ensure healthier future forest stands.