Understanding business areas in the forest process

Learn how the different forest business areas work together, and why clear communication between them is essential for success

The forest process can be incredibly complex, and each step of the forest production is unique.

Traditionally, these steps are divided into separate business areas — because they are very different processes, although each and every one is connected.

Join us as we explore the key forest business areas involved in a planting establishment, and how forest management technology can help you ensure successful communication across them all.

1: Land management

Before any new forest can be established, producers must ensure they have all of the required documents, certifications, and authorizations necessary for the chosen area.

Because the forest plantation will remain active for a long period of time, it is crucial to be supported by processes and tools that will help you keep all taxes and obligations up to date, preventing any interruption to your production chain.

2: Infrastructure

Once the planting establishment is approved, the next step is to check and maintain existing roads, or to create new roads, in the area of the new forest. This will facilitate access to the site for planting, ongoing forest management, and timber extraction at the end of the forest process.

Because forest management is a continuous process, it’s very important to consider the number of site accesses needed to maintain the forest plantation and the expected volume to be extracted, based on continuous forest inventories. It will allow you as the producer to properly scale the correct capacity of each road section, to avoid problems during the production hauling.

3: Research & Development

In some cases, to reach a better relationship between the productivity rate and costs, it’s very important to establish forest plantations based on the correct species or the correct clone (when applied).

This business area will work in advance of other areas, conducting trials to identify the best materials to be applied, considering the:

• Soil type (drainage, fertility, and texture);
• Amount of available sunlight;
• Altitude and slope;
• Any existing plant competition;
• The exposure, aspect, and orientation of the terrain;
• Current and historical climate data, and others.

Based on the results of the trials performed, you can use qualified information to determine which material needs to be produced by your own seedling nurseries and which needs to be acquired from the market.

4: Seedling nursery

After choosing the species and creating a planting design that determines the appropriate spacing, producers must then select and coordinate delivery with the seedling nursery that will provide the number of seedlings needed for the establishment.

Having the planting establishment plan connected to the seedling production plan is crucial to allow the nurseries to properly determine production capacity, and to avoid any downtime during the plantation season caused by a lack of seedlings.

5: Silviculture

This is the forest business area that’s responsible for the planting establishment itself. Normally, this business area will prepare the site for planting, conduct the planting operations, and perform the fertilizations.

Silviculture also encompasses the ongoing management of the planting establishment, including the survival, health, and quality checks needed to make sure that the forest will grow as expected.

How forest management technology can help

When managing a forest, accurate and accessible communication throughout every business area is essential.

Why? Because better communication means easier access to information, which leads to simplified management across the whole forest process—and that means better results for producers.

A forest management technology tool that helps you plan and control all stages of the production chain can give you a competitive advantage, by enabling the flow of information, and eliminating the possibility of misinformation and conflicts—helping you grow your success.

Our solutions

INFLOR enables the world’s leading companies to streamline and scale operations across the whole forest chain, with all the tools and data you need to gain better insights and yield the best results.

With INFLOR Forest, you know at a glance how every forest business area is performing. You can plan and control all stages of the production chain, monitor your physical and financial variables, simulate scenarios, set targets, calculate costs, and more.

Find out more about INFLOR Forest and request a demo today.

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