HarvestTECH News Issue 12

Welcome to the latest issues of HarvestTECH.News.

A lot can change in a month. At the time of our last issue, New Zealand celebrated being 100 days COVID-19 free and, on the other side of the Tasman, Melbourne reported their highest ever daily total in their second wave. While New Zealand seems to have contained the worst of their second wave and Melbourne’s rates have dropped significantly, it still reinforces the delicate balancing our economies face in this COVID-19 normal world.

For the first time, early expressions of interest are now being called for to present at next year’s major wood harvesting and log transport event, HarvestTECH 2021.

This event runs on the 13-14 April 2021 and, because of the uncertainly around international travel (and even across state borders in Australia), will be run as both an in-person event in Rotorua, New Zealand and as a live virtual online event. The last HarvestTECH was sold out, with well over 500 attending.

Now, by also streaming the event live to those unable to travel to Rotorua and with contractors and forestry companies keen to get back together, we are expecting another excellent turnout next year. Read the story below for more details on how you can be involved.

A couple of the highlights from this month’s issue includes a New Zealand study on replacing log tags with a unique punch code for identification and tracking of logs and Australia’s HVP is partnering with Trimble Forestry to roll out a paperless ticketing system from harvest to delivery. In Canada, FPInnovations is running a major automated-harvesting project and has now acquired a mechanical log loader and an unmanned ground vehicle for further testing.

Remember to send through any contributions, stories or links that we can pass onto the wider wood harvesting and log transport community.

Check out all the articles below and enjoy this month’s issue.