Technological advances have driven the development of Brazilian planted forests and revolutionized our way of operating, boosting the competitiveness and sustainability of the sector.

Notably, technologies for monitoring and telemetry of operations, communication and connectivity, artificial intelligence, advances in the mechanization of operations and people training stand out as fundamental pillars of this progress. The primary role of field leaders is to coordinate teams, understand their challenges, overcome difficulties and deliver results. Therefore, monitoring production and productivity are essential for leaders in the field. In this regard, we have seen a lot of progress in recent years.

We went through the digitization of operational notes and their transmission, to the generation of information and monitoring panels and, seeing value in this sense, we focused on the telemetry effort, seeking even more assertiveness of the information. All aimed at finding production leaks. And finally, today we have designed sensor systems for autonomous or remote monitoring, which enable real-time monitoring of activities, providing even more effective management.

These systems advocate connectivity, which remains a major challenge given our operations in dispersed and distant areas. We have already been further away from a viable solution, which would solve the issue of transmitting an important volume of data that we collect in the field today and brings light to a great demand that should in no way be underestimated nowadays, which is access to connection of mobile devices of people operating in the field.

These people feel excluded from the social environment very much when they lose access to Whatsapp or social media. The world today communicates this way, and if we don't treat it as a necessity, we will lose people to urban centers. At the same time, seeing potential in the development of technologies based on artificial intelligence, we seek solutions to known adversities and risk finding solutions to problems that are still unknown, exploring the processing capacity of machines beyond human competence.

Even though we are still far from large-scale operational applications, we have invested in this area, with few, but very promising results in predictive analysis and process optimization. At Eldorado, we have designated a team dedicated to the topic, across the results areas, from which we have high expectations for disruptive solutions, while another team seeks gains in continuous improvement.

The mechanization of operations, in addition to forest harvesting, remains a major challenge for the sector. Our scale is large as a production sector, but still small for large machine suppliers, when compared to other sectors. We lack purpose-built machines in the forestry area. Heading the line is the long-awaited mechanized planter, which, even evaluating the most recent prototypes, still requires a lot of development to meet the necessary quality and productivity of similar semi-mechanized operations. However, investing in this development is essential, even if we do not have such competitive costs in mechanized operations.

In the short/medium term we will have no other option, given the scarcity of rural labor and the expansion of investments in forests in marginal areas, with low/very low demographic density. For us at Eldorado, the focus of the “ cabinization ” concept is to provide quality to the workplace and not necessarily reduce costs with mechanized operations.".

As an example, at Eldorado, we are replacing semi-mechanized planting irrigation (1 tractor driver + 5 forestry helpers) with mechanized irrigation (irrigator on tractor), where we increase the number of machines (and tractor drivers), but reduce the exposure of helpers, which walk behind the tanks. We work to equalize the cost of semi-mechanized operations and gain quality in the workplace. I am very sure that by continuing to develop the operation, we will achieve better productivity and reduced costs.

Probably, in operations such as planting, we will still have to incur a higher cost to achieve “cabinization”, but it will be the necessary lever to ensure the possibility of expansion and even maintenance of production. We will not have people willing to work behind a tractor, “dragging” a ratchet, in full sun, throughout the working day. It is necessary to persist in operational development, even if it is difficult. Making our jobs attractive is fundamental to the sustainability of the business and a commitment to our people.

Finally, at the base of the entire process are people. We need to collaborate, as a sector, in training and training people. Not only training forestry engineers, but also good technicians, operators, mechanics, electricians, rubber workers and others. The more technological we are in the production process, the more this is essential. Who knows, perhaps one day we will have public forestry training schools, as in the Nordic countries, and the role of companies will be restricted in generating demand. Here, our reality imposes the need to find other solutions to this problem.

In parallel to training, training teams is essential to gain competitiveness. At the beginning of the Second Industrial Revolution, Henry Ford said that “worse than training an employee and seeing him leave is not training the employee and seeing him stay ”. By doing so, we are not only working to improve productivity and reduce costs, but also creating opportunities for people. The dedication and commitment of employees is incomparable when they have a perspective on the future.

Make a good diagnosis, have clear objectives, design an applied curriculum, without “filling in” with subjects that have no practical relevance (teaching the priest how to say Mass), apply teaching methodologies appropriate to specific functions, measure the results obtained and engage employees and leaders, demonstrating joint gain in the process, are fundamental to the success of a good training program.

Technology has also driven new educational tools. Eldorado recently opened a Mobile Forestry Training Center, which has containers fully adapted and self-sufficient in terms of energy and water, allowing, according to need, to meet training demands along with operations. The structure is made up of classrooms, hydraulics, pneumatics, computerized diagnostics and electrodeposition recovery rooms, rooms with virtual reality platforms and various machines for practical training. This investment is in line with the Trilha de Carreira project, where we train our employees to face internal growth opportunities and the constant challenges of productivity gains and operational efficiency.

In conclusion, technological advancement is present throughout the Brazilian planted forest chain and presents a significant recent evolution, integrating performance management tools, sensing and telemetry, connectivity, artificial intelligence, mechanization and educational technologies. These advances boost the sector's competitiveness, consolidating Brazil as a global reference in advanced forest management.