Metsä Group and Risutec link soil preparation to forwarders in a novel way
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.”
Image for media use.
For further information, please contact:
Juho Rantala, SVP, Development, Metsä Group, Wood Supply and Forest Services, tel. +358 40 143 6347
Jussi Aikala, CEO, Risutec, tel. +358 500 72 1764
Juha Laine, SVP, Marketing and Communications, Metsä Group, Wood Supply and Forest Services, +358 50 346 0350
Metsä Group’s Wood Supply and Forest Services
metsagroup.com/metsaforest
Metsä Group’s Wood Supply and Forest Services provides and develops the services offered to the members of Metsä Group's parent company, Metsäliitto Cooperative. The cooperative consists of more than 90,000 Finnish forest owners who together own about half of Finland’s private forests. We provide all the forest services required to engage in sustainable forest management and raise the value of forest assets.We procure all the wood used by Metsä Group from sustainably managed forests in the Baltic Sea region, most of it from our owner-members in Finland.
In 2022, our sales totalled EUR 2.1 billion, and we have around 750 employees. We promote a culture of diversity, equality and inclusion.
