Post: Seeing the Bigger Picture in Modern Silviculture

July 12, 2025

Seeing the Bigger Picture in Modern Silviculture

“South Africa’s Forestry Industry needs to innovate and adopt technologies to help reduce wood production costs and enhance our competitiveness in the global market.”

SILVICULTURE TECHNOLOGY DYNAMICS
Silviculture operations are critical for establishing and maintaining sustainably managed plantation forests. Silviculture practices differ worldwide because of regional preferences, terrain conditions, physiography, climate, labour availability and capacity, tree properties, and management regimes. South Africa’s Forestry Industry needs to innovate and adopt technologies to help reduce wood production costs and enhance our competitiveness in the global market. Some silviculture technologies may work efficiently in other parts of the world but may not necessarily be suited for our conditions. Over the past decade and a half, we have seen the introduction and acceleration of modern silviculture technologies in South Africa. The adoption of these technologies is evident in nurseries, re-establishment efforts, and stand-tending operations. Furthermore, operational methods vary from manual to motor manual, to semi-mechanised, and ultimately to fully mechanised systems. The application of mulchers versus burning, pitting machines versus picks, tractor-based planting systems versus manual planting, and drones versus knapsacks demonstrates the progression in technology from manual to mechanised systems. This wave has been driven by the need to increase productivity whilst reducing costs, enhance quality (survival, tree growth, and uniformity), and improve safety. However, despite the gradual increase in modernisation within our industry, most of our silviculture activities are still performed manually.

WHAT ARE THE BARRIERS AND CONSTRAINTS TO TECHNOLOGICAL ADOPTION?
Some of the key barriers to silviculture modernisation within the South African context are the high cost of capital, potential reduction in manually orientated employment opportunities, low utilisation of equipment due to the seasonality of operations, inadequate economies of scale (especially for small landowners) and insufficient information on the costs and benefits of adopting new technologies. On the ground, both physical-environmental and socio-economic barriers have influenced technology adoption in South Africa. Physical-environmental barriers refer to the prevalence of site-impeding factors such as terrain conditions (slope, ground conditions and roughness), stumps and harvesting residues. These factors predominantly affect accessibility and trafficability on the sites to execute silvicultural activities. Given the general lack of purpose-built equipment, forestry organisations resort to manual methods, which are more flexible. Socio-economic factors refer to the impact of modernisation on employment among rural communities that depend on forestry. Our industry must balance the need to improve efficiencies while preserving and/or improving the working conditions for people dependent on forestry work.

CAN PRECISION SILVICULTURE TAKE US TO THE NEXT LEVEL?
By using precision forestry technologies such as remote sensing and drones for monitoring and data collection, silviculture managers can be well-informed about the status of their plantations. Precision systems can provide detailed information about climatic conditions (long-term weather patterns), forest stands (e.g. fuel loads, weed status, stress), and work performed by machines (e.g. telematic systems) and people within the forest stands. This information is valuable because managers can plan accurately and make informed operational decisions. Accurate information combined with good management can reduce costs and improve efficiencies. For example, during the establishment phase, South African forest grower companies can use UAV technologies to collect high-resolution spatial data to assess seedling survival rates, weeds, and seedling growth. Managers should configure their precision support systems to deliver relevant information that facilitates impactful decision-making.

WHAT IS THE TRUE COST OF MODERNISATION?
As the Forestry Industry adopts various instruments to improve operational
efficiencies combined with better yields, the actual costs need to be defined and
quantified.

Figure 3: Flow diagram of operational silviculture cost outputs.

The cost of silviculture equipment and implements used seasonally is complex as it depends on variable assumptions. Our industry needs robust costing models that forestry stakeholders can use to accurately quantify the cost per ha, cost per hour, and cost per month/year of utilising various technologies. Given that most silviculture work is outsourced, grower companies and contractors must collaborate in recording, reviewing and refining operational costs.
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Optimising one operation without focusing on the impact throughout the full value chain is counterproductive. Foresters must assess the “cost” of modernising a single operation on downstream activities, focusing on safety, productivity, environment, quality and social implications. For example, if mulching is adopted, it is essential to understand its effects on soil properties (biological, physical and chemical properties), tree survival and growth, access for other site activities, and fire risks.
What are the true gains and losses? Not every modernised system will bring significant improvements; some studies have shown that using mechanised systems may lead to poor survival compared to conventional manual systems. New technologies must be thoroughly investigated, and knowledge gaps must be filled quickly for forestry stakeholders to make informed decisions.
We need to better understand silviculture mechanisation’s impact on site productive capacity, with a particular focus on organic matter, nutrient availability, soil disturbance, soil compaction, and soil loss. What are the short-term and long-term implications of our current operations? Accessible guidelines and decision-support tools are needed to equip managers with the relevant information.

“Our industry must balance the need to improve efficiencies while preserving and/ or improving the working conditions for people dependent on forestry work.”

LET US REASON TOGETHER
The future of a sustainable Forestry Industry comprises a diverse mix of knowledge, skills, and expertise. To fully realise the value of modern silviculture, it is essential to understand both the silvicultural principles of growing trees and the technologies that can be integrated to optimise manpower, machines, and materials. Our industry currently lacks the concerted effort required to collaboratively develop resourceful solutions. Grower companies, contractors, machine manufacturers and educational institutions can be more organised and focused on innovating and studying the solutions most fitting for our industry instead of waiting for remedies from single entities or abroad. Local collaborative entities can yield more impactful outputs if we break down self-made boundaries, find synergies and see the bigger picture.

Source: FSA