Cut-to-Length Harvesting Options for the Integrated Harvesting of the European Industrial Poplar Plantations

Raffaele Spinelli; Natascia Magagnotti; Fabio De Francesco; Barnabas Kovac; Patrik Heger; Dávid Heilig; Balint Heil; Gàbor Kovàcs; Tomáš  Zemánek

doi:10.3390/f13091478

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Cut-to-Length Harvesting Options for the Integrated Harvesting of the European Industrial Poplar Plantations

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Cut-to-Length Harvesting Options for the Integrated Harvesting of the European Industrial Poplar Plantations

Raffaele Spinelli, Natascia Magagnotti, Fabio De Francesco, Barnabas Kovac, Patrik Heger, Dávid Heilig, Balint Heil, Gàbor Kovàcs and Tomáš Zemánek

Forests, Vol.13(9), pp.1-15

2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/f13091478

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Abstract

harvester

forwarder

time study

productivity

cost

Plantation forestry has a long history in Europe and still supports local industry, generating employment, improving environmental quality, and mitigating climate change. As part of these plantations, medium-rotation poplars (5–8 years) provide good quality logs for fiber production, and the branches and tops can be converted into green energy. Finding a cost-effective harvesting system for this plantation is challenging due to the small tree size and the need for log production, which prevents whole-tree chipping. To verify the economic benefit of using small mechanized cut-to-length (CTL) technology, four different CTL chains were tested in western Slovakia. All chains tested consisted of a harvester and a forwarder. Each machine had a skilled operator and was timed while cutting and processing (or forwarding) eight experimental sample plots. Sample plots were randomly assigned to each treatment, and each one covered an area between 0.08 and 0.10 ha (120–170 trees). Harvester productivity ranged from 2.2 to 4.2 bone-dry tons per scheduled machine hour (BDT SMH−1), and harvester cost from EUR 11 to EUR 22 BDT−1. Forwarding productivity and cost ranged from EUR 2.0 to 4.5 BDT SMH−1 and from EUR 9 to 20 BDT−1. Total harvesting costs ranged between EUR 26 and 36 BDT−1. Choosing a smaller harvester is preferable due to the small tree size, which caps productivity regardless of a machine’s intrinsic potential. Furthermore, small harvesters and forwarders are lighter on the ground, which can be a valuable asset on the many wet sites planted with poplar.

Details

Title: Cut-to-Length Harvesting Options for the Integrated Harvesting of the European Industrial Poplar Plantations
Authors: Raffaele Spinelli (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Forest Research Institute
Natascia Magagnotti (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Forest Research Institute
Fabio De Francesco (Author) - National Research Council
Barnabas Kovac (Author) - IKEA Industry Slovakia
Patrik Heger (Author) - IKEA Industry Slovakia
Dávid Heilig (Author) - University of Sopron
Balint Heil (Author) - University of Sopron
Gàbor Kovàcs (Author) - University of Sopron
Tomáš Zemánek (Author) - Mendel University in Brno
Publication details: Forests, Vol.13(9), pp.1-15
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date published: 2022
DOI: 10.3390/f13091478
ISSN: 1999-4907
Copyright note: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Organisation Unit: University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Forest Industries Research Centre; Forest Research Institute
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99676395402621
Output Type: Journal article