Italy

This company was founded in 2013, when a manager in the IT sector, Carlo Petrolo, decided to renovate a family farmhouse using the trees on the property. None of the few remaining sawmills, however, makes itself available to take a few logs and then saw them. Petrolo sees an opportunity in this crisis situation. Thus was born the idea of ​​preparing a mobile, self-transportable sawmill service, suitable for all those who had the need to work their own wood on site.

The activity appears easily replicable with reduced investments. In addition, a service like this could complement another activity, forest or agricultural. However, a widespread action of promotion and contact with all possible purchasers of the service is necessary: ​​very diversified subjects, since we pass from the forest operator to the private citizen, up to the public administration. In the case in question, marketing activities via internet had a fundamental role, especially through social networks.

The service, initially based on a single mobile sawmill, immediately received great interest from operators in the sector and inhabitants in mountain areas. The service, now expanded also in the Italian territory with several mobile sawmills in action. It has responded to the need of many small private owners or farms who are often in a position to be unable to use their raw materials due to the lack of local facilities still capable of sawing small quantities. This experience has also been the forerunner of numerous other alpine entrepreneurial activities (forest companies and treeclimbers) that have purchased mobile sawmills to enhance the wood that was previously used as biomass or waste.

Silvicultural approach that early selects a limited number of target trees to which ensure a free and harmonious development of crown and trunk. The thinnings are selective or from above and they are oriented to remove the direct competitors of the target trees, preserving the remaining stand. The target trees are chosen as a function of vigor, stability, tree morphology, spatial distribution. The number of released target trees (from 50 to 120 per hectare) depends on the site characteristics, the species, the biotic and abiotic risks, the type of owner, the silvicultural goal. · This approach can be applied in high forests and in coppices, in conifers (as Pinus nigra and Pseudotsuga Douglasii) and broad-leaved species, to social (Fagus sylvatica and Quercus sp.) and valuable (Castanea sativa) or sporadic tree (Prunus avium, Sorbus sp., Fraxinus sp., …) species, in public or private property. To apply this method is necessary: Specific training and care of technicians and workers from tree marker to logging Specific training of people involved in the control of the forest utilization. · From an economic and productive point of view: decreasing the management costs reduction of rotation time increasing of quantity and quality of assortments production of high-quality timber relatively quickly enhancement of phenotypes and / or species potentially able to produce quality timber - From an ecological and environmental point of view: increase of individual and stand stability increase of biodiversity increase of structural complexity maintenance of an irregular canopy cover protection of sporadic species - From a social point of view: integration with the traditional forestry increase of non-wood products increase of landscape value

The Travaglini Company has been active since 1976, when it managed to buy 36 hectares of forest. Over the years, thanks to a correct organization of work, attention to efficiency and quality and a correct use of public funding, she managed to "live with the resources of the forest", giving work to family members as well as seasonal workers. This example demonstrates how it is possible to create efficiency and innovation also in our sector and with our woods. What made the experience of this company great is certainly the mentality and passion with which work and investments have been faced over the years. Having always focused on the efficiency of the company organization and on the quality of the products has given the solid foundation to the company, which thanks to the push towards innovation, of process and product, has made a leap more. The Travaglini family company demonstrates every day how it is possible to work thanks to the forest also in the Apennines, using wood and renewable energy. The first investment was the construction of a large one agricultural storage with innovative features, to be able to work even on bad weather days. Under this structure there is a very well organized line for the production of 4 different types of poles. Subsequently, the company aimed to enhance its production waste, by installing one of the first district heating networks in Tuscany that serves 8 homes. Later the company also focused on the sale of part of the waste as a biofuel. Realizing that many families in the area preferred pellets rather than wood or wood chips, the Travaglini family created a new type of wood chips, called cippatino, capable of replacing pellets. This product, sold in 15 kg bags, costs less than pellets, and therefore is required by customers, but much more than wood and chips, bringing great added value to the company.

Venturini was founded in 1985 as an agricultural company, to then devote itself to forestry work since 1997. With the entry of Michele, the owner's son, the forestry activity took over and traditional work systems led to employment of more modern machines, with large investments. The transformation from a traditional forest company to a modern enterprise has been realized thanks to the Region Tuscany Rural Development Plan 2007-13, which has allowed Venturini Biomasse to completely renovate the machinery and reorganize itself, becoming a reference in the territory for the supply of wood chips.

Venturini Biomasse is a beautiful example of a family-run company that, over the years, has been able to expand, renew and improve. Michele's entry into the family business also marked the change of pace at the business level. It is in fact thanks to his foresight that it has been possible to access public funding with the PRS 2007-2013, by exploiting them productively on the basis of clear, concrete objectives and above all calibrated to company dimensions.

Through the purchased equipment
the company has achieved important goals.
First, working conditions have improved. New technologies have also made it possible to optimize logistics. A strategy of diversification and, above all, of production qualification, has allowed the company to start operating outside the local market, obtaining a positioning capable of guaranteeing better sales conditions and therefore greater profitability. The company is healthy today, with good development prospects, and aims to grow further. There is no shortage of design ideas for the future, such as the expansion of a covered structure to optimize the storage and handling of the chips produced, or the construction of a forced drying plant to speed up production cycles.

"FMMF Il Legno" identifies wood products derived from Montagne Fiorentine Model Forest boundaries. The brand can be used only by public and private forest owners and by the forestry companies that are members of the MFMF association who have signed a set of regulations about safety and sustainable cutting. It guarantees: the legality of the products supplied through compliance with international, national and regional laws regarding forestry, commerce and taxation; compliance with current safety regulations; the presence and respect of regular contracts for the buying and selling of the woods.

This project has tried to improve conditions of the companies (owners and users) of first transformation who work on the territory of FMMF, through a continuous training process that can improve the working conditions of the operators in the woods. It has tried to put together demand with offer by selling products (certified timber) that guarantees environmental, economic and social sustainability. The demand is often unwilling to use the forest due to a high fragmentation of the forest property with a marked prevalence of limited private property surfaces.

Types of products guaranteed: woody biomass for energy, firewood, wood chips, pellets, round wood, semi-finished products, wooden products.
The brand managers have carried out activities to promote the brand chain: participation in events; participation at meetings with trade associations or public bodies (Tuscany Region, CNA Borgo San Lorenzo, Gal START, etc.).
They supported the FMMF members drafting projects (PSR calls, GAL START calls, forestry PIF - integrated supply chain projects) and with documents in compliance with EUTR regulation 995/2010 (DUE DILIGENCE).
Project "Bosco Chiavi in ​​Mano" was designed to help owners manage their forests efficiently; professionals offer a service that simplifies forest management and facilitates transactions. 250 turned chestnut poles were sold, 650 q. of firewood, barrels, boards, 250 square meters of chestnut for the floor of the C.BIO shop in Florence and a Center dedicated to Chestnut at Castagno D’andrea was made with branded chestnut wood.

Forest Sharing (FS) aims to enhance the forest heritage through the creation of an innovative platform, able to facilitate the meeting between players in the forest sector, planning an ethical and sustainable forest management. This service is mainly proposed for abandoned or unmanaged ownships, re-launching integrated management in order to obtain an environmental and economic benefit, thanks to the use of innovative technological tools.

We made several public test in not “forest” conventional places, such as shopping center and exhibitions, and we met there forest owners that have decided to subscribe the application to enter in FS.
These tests were important to validate the service and the idea behind FS. It is necessary to organize a system that allows managing multiple properties together, and reducing the time spent by the owner, for each step of the supply chain.

The first results underline how people are interest in this new approach, especially those that have a forest proprieties that at the moment are not-manage. FS have start to create a networking between all the different actors in forest sectors. Forest Sharing platform have networking different owners and more than 1000 hectares of forests are in connection. Thanks to FS now forest owners are associate and in the last month they apply for founding. Some of the proprieties and forest managers had benefit from the application of technologies tools implemented by FS. Through the social networks FS have obtained a wide interest of owners, forest technician and forest companies working in logging and no logging activities.

The coop. Eco-Energie was born from the Baglioni family farm. To survive in the italian firewood market, characterized by strong unfair competition, the owner decided to innovate their approach to forest works. After 5 years of study, he has decided to invest in a gradual but consistent manner in the production and sale of wood chips, diversifying at the same time the production also focusing on naturalistic engineering. From 2015 the company also directly manages a district heating system through a turnkey service, the so-called contracting.

Eco-Energie is characterized by a strong entrepreneurial spirit and propensity to risk. This is demonstrated by the huge investments in mechanization, training and the search for new solutions such as contracting activities.
This seems to pay off: diversifying end products derived from the wood normally used, increasing productivity through better organization, gradually investing in the use of advanced mechanization and focusing on the training of employees seem to be firm points from which many companies in the sector could start again.

The growth of Eco-Energie has been impressive: the company currently has more than 20 employees and continues to invest in new machines and equipment. They are numerous, the training activities of the employees (also in the field of security) and contracts increase, multi-year contracts for the supply of wood chips to existing plants.
However, management problems arise and organization related to spaces, to guarantee an even better product in less time.
Thus the need to acquire oneself has arisen a biomass platform: a logistic center covered where to sort the material, store and dry the wood and chips and sell the products also to the retail.
From this cooperative a new company (Etruria Energie - www.etruriaenergie.it) was born recently (2016), which offers a turnkey service for the installation of renewable energy plants, in particular from wood biomass, for public and private users.