Cattle and forest consortium generates income while trees grow
Many rural producers think of investing in forests – which have a solid investment and guaranteed trade, mainly in the Southern region of the country – but do not take it up because they believe it to be an expensive investment that takes long to generate profit. However, according to the chairman of the Paraná Association of Forest Base Companies (Apre), Álvaro Scheffer Junior, if correctly planned and with the integration of the forest production to other activities, such as the silvopastoral system, the producer can start planting forests and guaranteeing an income even before the first cutting of trees.
According to Scheffer, the silvopastoral system is extremely interesting for those wishing to start planting forests. “In a consortium with cattle, it is possible to start having an income before the forest. In addition to environmental benefits, it has benefits to the cattle and the economy in the forest cycle. When cattle is added, no herbicide is applied, and there is no weed competition (caused by the invading weeds in the planted forest crops), which generates lower handling costs and thus maintains the extra income. This is true to both small and large producers, we have several associates, large companies, working with silvopastoral system”, he adds.
In any way, the producer wishing to start the activity on their lands will need a bit of patience, since the cultivation of forests is a long-cycle crop when compared to agriculture. “A short-cycle forest such as eucalyptus takes seven to eight years to generate profit. In short-cycle pine, the average is 14 years. Long-cycle pine takes approximately 26 years”, the chairman explains. “If you are starting from scratch, you cannot expect the forest to generate financial return on the first year. At the beginning, it is necessary to have cash flow to be able to wait out this time to have the return, but the wait definitely pays off”, he states.According to Scheffer, o the producer who is starting must plan for the forest to generate income ad aeternum, planting every year. “It is better to start planting in a smaller area, and on the following year, plant in another area, and so on. In that way, every year there will be wood to harvest. He will be collecting a part of that forest, and will have return [on the investment]”, he says. According to him, forest companies have the vision of assembling a cycle for 60 to 70 years in the future. “The forest is a cyclic activity, like a gear. And when it gears up, every year there will be an area to harvest and plant again. And from there on, the activity will be practically autonomous”, he assures.
