Feed aggregator

Seppi’s S7 base is a robust mulcher made of S420 steel for orchards, vineyards, green area maintenance, and forestry. Source: Timberbiz With a power range of 50 to 160 HP, it’s an all-rounder for landscape, grassland, and irrigation maintenance, this innovative mulcher meets the requirements of professionals under various conditions. The S7 base flail mulcher is suitable for AEBI tractors due to its low weight and close centre of gravity to the tractor, making it particularly popular for use on steep slopes. The rotor shaft of the S7 base is equipped with strong SMO or SMW flails, which reliably mulch grass and woody material up to 7 cm in diameter even at high speeds. Due to its robust construction and the spirally arranged flails on the HELIX rotor, forces are distributed particularly evenly, ensuring smooth operation even at speeds of up to 10 km/h. Thanks to its wear-resistant construction, the reversible mulcher is not only suitable for landscape, grassland, and irrigation maintenance but also for light forestry work. The housing contains hardened counter cutters, which are even interchangeable in the S7 series, ensuring their properties are maintained even under heavy use. The combined protection device of chains and flaps prevents twigs from getting tangled and protects against stone impact. The newly designed belt housing corresponds to the sturdy construction of forestry equipment and also features deflectors to protect passing plants. With the optional M-FLAP hood, the shredding degree can be easily adjusted without additional tools. It is available as mechanical or hydraulic if needed. Like all S7 mulchers, this model is equipped with a stable support roller with reinforced 4D-ROLLER bearings. The 4D bearings guarantee smooth operation on uneven terrain. Choose from a wide range of working widths – 150, 175, 200, 225, and 250 cm – according to your specific requirements. The S7 base delivers a perfectly clean cut even at higher working speeds. Its features ensure minimal consumption, and the machine is easy to maintain.

Wildfires are uncontrolled fires that occur in nature and are often harshened by climatic conditions. Long dry spells particularly increase the risk of wildfires breaking out, but other factors also have a huge impact, such as rain and wind, vegetation, the layout of the terrain, and forest management practices. Source: Timberbiz Last year was a record-breaking year, with the largest fires ever experienced in Europe, one of the worst wildfire seasons on record in the EU. Wildfires also severely affected Northern America, as well as many countries in Southern America. Lives were lost, livelihoods destroyed, and many hectares of land burnt all over the world. Last year, the EU reinforced its rescEU firefighting fleet (firefighting planes and helicopters) as well as pre-positioned hundreds of firefighters for immediate support in forest fires-prone countries. The EU Civil Protection Mechanism was activated 10 times to respond to wildfires in the Mediterranean, Chile, Bolivia and Canada. In 2024, the same level of response will be maintained. The fire risk is expected to further increase due to climate change. The season will be increasingly characterised by massive fires that cost lives and burn areas that take longer to fully recover. Between 2007 and 2023, over 16% of all requests for assistance through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism were in response to wildfires. Wildfires have recently become a pan-European concern. In 2022, although France, Spain and Portugal were particularly hit, major fires also took place in Czechia, Germany, Greece, and Slovenia, to name a few. In total, 20 EU Member States recorded more burned areas than average in 2022. The wildfire risk expanded to areas that have not previously been exposed, moving well beyond the Mediterranean region. This causes huge societal, environmental, climate and economic losses across Europe. In 2023 the EU’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) channelled assistance to Albania, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Cyprus and Greece and Tunisia. Furthermore, the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) regularly produces satellite maps on demand to help national authorities respond to wildfires. In the same year, Copernicus has been activated 25 times for wildfires across the globe. In 2023, both the number of fires and the EU’s annual burnt area were above average.

Japan’s predominantly wood-based housing sector has historically been a strong market for the world’s softwood lumber exporters, but with an ageing population, demand is declining. However, the government is supporting green building with pro-wood policies, and tall timber buildings are on the rise, potentially opening up new opportunities. Source: ResourceWise In the last six years, Japan’s imports of softwood lumber by volume have fallen by 48%–an average decline of 8% per year with just a 1% uptick between 2021 and 2022. Lumber imports in 2023 dropped by almost 33% compared with 2022 to 3.2 million m3. Between 2017 and 2023, Canada accounted for almost 27% of Japan’s total softwood lumber imports, but volumes from Canada have fallen by 60% in that timeframe. In 2023, Canadian lumber accounted for 758,000 m3, a year-over-year decline of 19%. In February 2024, Japan’s lumber imports from Canada amounted to 60,818 m3, which was almost on a par with imports from Finland (57,057 m3). The average price of imported lumber from Canada in February was $396 per m3. The average price of Finnish lumber was $284 per m3. Japan’s softwood lumber imports from Finland and Sweden in 2023 both declined by more than 30% year-over-year. Japan’s softwood lumber imports from Russia have also declined in recent years, and in 2023 were down 40% year-over-year to 467,000m3. However, despite its invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s share of Japan’s lumber market barely changed in the last five years, to the surprise and disapproval of European forest industry organizations. Several of Japan’s main softwood lumber suppliers saw an upturn in exports in 4Q 2023–Canada’s 4Q exports to Japan were up 33% year-over-year and 37% compared with 3Q. But with Japan’s softwood lumber import volumes closely tied to the housing market, a long-term upward trend seems unlikely. In 2021, wooden buildings accounted for 91% of Japan’s single-family homes, but Japan’s declining birthrate suggests demand—particularly for owner- occupied homes–is likely to wane in the future, according to Japan Lumber Journal (JLJ). In 2023, housing starts decreased by 4.6% year-over- year to 819,623 units, and owner-occupied housing fell by 11.4%. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, on announcing the annual data in January, said consumers had been concerned early in 2023 about the likely impact of the Ukraine war on material prices. The number of prefabricated housing starts declined by 8.1% to 103,403 units and the number of two-by-four houses declined by 0.5% to 90,792 units. Therefore, softwood lumber suppliers cannot, pin their hopes on a dramatic future rebound in Japan’s traditional residential construction market. However, there are signs of emerging opportunities to increase wood-use in the non-residential sector. The Law on the Promotion of Wood Use in Buildings for Contributing to the Achievement of a Decarbonized Society came into effect in October 2021. The revision to this law expanded its scope beyond public buildings to include buildings in general, JLJ reported. The law also encourages the use of forest plantations planted after the Second World War, and the government is offering subsidies towards construction and timber procurement costs. According to Japan’s land ministry, 36 applications were filed in 2022 for the construction of wooden buildings with four or more floors above ground— more than double the number of applications the year prior. Port Plus in Yokohama, at 11 stories, is Japan’s tallest timber building. It now houses construction contractor Obayashi Corp, which is an advocate of greater use of timber in Japanese buildings. According to Australia’s Wood Central, Mitsui Fudosan Co. and Takenaka Corp. plan to erect a 17-story office building in Tokyo by 2025, and Sumitomo Forestry Co. aims to construct a 350-meter high-rise with 90% of the structure made from lumber in 2041 at the earliest. Tall wood buildings might be new to Japan, but their appeal as a “natural climate solution” to aid in the decarbonization of the construction sector is undeniable. Obayashi estimates that carbon dioxide emissions from Port Plus are a quarter of those of a comparable building made from reinforced concrete and half of those of steel-frame buildings. Also, Japan’s existing building codes and policies have set the stage for taller wood buildings. No stranger to earthquakes, Japan enshrined building safety and resilience standards in its Building Standards Law in 1981. Revisions made in 2000, after the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, tightened the requirements further, focusing on the resilience of wooden buildings and overall structural integrity. Japan recently revised its Building Standards Law further to encourage the use of domestic timbers such as cedar to manufacture building products including veneer, plywood, and panelling. The country also has domestic production of engineered wood products such as glulam and LVL.

The Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry in collaboration with CSIRO, Australia’s National Science Agency, is further enhancing the Australian National Soil Information System (ANSIS). Source: Timberbiz Launched in June 2023, an additional $6 million over five years has been invested through the Natural Heritage Trust for ongoing delivery and enhancement of the $15 million National Soil Strategy initiative. First Assistant Secretary of Sustainability Climate and Strategy Nick Blong said soil is a valuable resource that needs to be protected and sustained. “ANSIS is an important initiative that provides reliable soil data accessible to anyone online, Mr Blong said. “As a system formed to support the evaluation of the health of Australian soil, ANSIS will help to inform stronger soil management practices that will deliver benefits to our agriculture sector and other industries.” The initiative is part of the government’s Natural Heritage Trust Climate-Smart Agriculture Program, which is providing integrated investments to support the agriculture industry to strengthen climate resilience and sustainability, including soil health. It also supports the National Soil Action Plan 2023-2028, a 5-year plan to improve soil health and management using coordinated measures nationally across policy, education, research and investment, and soil data information-sharing. CSIRO lead scientist on the project, Peter Wilson, said the new system had been designed to bring data access efficiency to research, education and policy users. Supporting development of information products and programs that help farmers and decision makers in the agricultural sector. “We can’t underestimate how important soil is to future prosperity for the agriculture sector, particularly in the areas of sustainability, productivity, profitability and food security. “Until now it has been difficult to find and access relevant soil data to get a national picture of the state of soils across the country to inform decision making. “CSIRO has worked closely with stakeholders to develop this valuable platform to deliver nationally consistent soil data that will help inform the future management of our soils including opportunities for change or improvement.”