A ‘smart spade’ which identifies exactly where to plant a tree seedling is just one of the new technologies being developed in a seven-year Precision Silviculture development project worth $25.5 million.
Forest Owners Association president Grant Dodson says the joint government-funded project, to bring mechanisation and robots to the production of tree seedlings and the tending of plantations, covers a wide range of technologies.
“It’s not a single Eureka discovery which is going to make all this work,” Dodson says. “It’s combining, for instance, a planter with a sensor and linking it to electronic mapping. The map sends a beep signal to the planter that they need to go a couple of metres up or along the slope to put the seedling in. The end result is a much more optimally spaced plantation forest, which makes for better growth and easier and safer harvesting.”
Dodson says that the growth in mechanical harvesting over the past decade shows that using machinery results in greater productivity and a safer workplace.
“In harvesting, we are now onto our next phase, developing robot operations, particularly for sorting and grading logs. There is great opportunity to apply these technologies to the nursery and forest growing operations.”
National research manager Paul Adams says the development of mechanised thinning and pruning will not only make these operations safer, more efficient and more precise, but also enable them to integrate into mechanical extraction of now increasingly valuable forest biomass.
“At present, the usual way of assessing the growth and quality of a forest is through someone going in and measuring a few samples,” Adams says. “Using technology to measure the development of each and every tree and batch of seedlings would be a quantum leap in management and, ultimately, will mean more precise breeding selection as well.”
