Silviculture at scale in Brazil

Dr Alex Freitas and Bruno Reis of Brazil’s largest eucalyptus forestry company, Suzano, presented an overview of forestry in the country. Brazil’s resources and investment in silviculture technologies are mind-blowing compared to South Africa.
Because of the scale of their activities, Brazil’s forest owners increasingly rely on automated nurseries and mechanised planting. For them, nursery production automation is not a matter of whether it can be applied but rather when it will be used.
Suzano has four experimental nurseries geographically positioned in its main plantation areas. Suzano’s Towards 2030 high-tech nurseries strategy is focused on automating each step of the clonal development and production processes.
The company was the first adopter of Ellepot propagation systems and paper pots outside Scandinavia. It combines the Ellepot paper pot and staking system with robotic materials handling, RFID tagging, humidity sensors and electroconductivity within the germinating and hardening-off tunnels.
Freitas says they are now researching the optimal height of the seedlings and seedling trays for mechanised planting systems. They found that the survival rate of seedlings larger than 36cm used in mechanised planting was sub-optimal.
The company uses ArcGIS Survey 123 to evaluate seedling quality over time and provide traceability data for each seedling. Seedlings between 15cm and 25cm have a survival rate of 28 days regardless of the seedling tray (plastic or paper pots).
Brazil’s numbers
- R$105 billion (R330 billion) investment in expansion projects.
- R$12,7 billion (R40 billion) in exports.
- 4,92 billion tons of CO2 stockpiled.
- 2,69 million direct and indirect jobs.
- 10,6 million hectares of certified area.
- 6,91 million hectares of conservation land.
- 87% renewable energy sources.
- 10,2 million hectares of afforested areas. The end-use distribution is 4% panels and floors, 11% charcoal, 36% pulp and paper, and 3% lumber.
- 38% of the forestry owners are independent producers.
- 8% are investors.
Suzano’s Investment in RD&I projects is R$122 million (R380 million)
- Process optimisation 30%: Energy efficiency, new feedstocks, new soil management practices and forestry.
- Use of technologies 20%: mechanisation, automation, robotisation of crop treatments and software development for climate prediction and management.
- Forest genetic improvement 9%: new species and hybrids focused on water defiance, frost risks and increased wood density.
- Product development is 27%: bioproducts, technological fertilisers, new forest fibres, and new markets for cellulose.
- Other innovations are 14%: circular economy, waste reduction, reduction, and neutralising carbon emissions.
Suzano’s nurseries in numbers
One of the largest consumers of eucalyptus seedlings in the world.
- 500 million seedlings annually.
- 1,5 million seedlings per day.
- 63 genetic materials.
- 50 partner nurseries working within a radius of 577km.
- The operational capacity is 155 million seedlings in paper pots per year.
- 250 000 hectares planted per year.
The supply chain of 500 million seedlings per year is from:
- 26% alliance nurseries.
- 27% borrowed nurseries.
- 19% own nurseries.
- 28% bought seedlings.
Suzano uses pXRF proximal sensing, which NASA uses to characterise the soils. The analysis lasts only 60 seconds, generates no chemical residues and avoids a cost of about R$ 1 million/year for the company. It is expected to internalise 100% of the soil and plant analyses.
(Exchange rate: B$1 = R3,15 on 13 Nov 2024)