Energy that emerges from the earth
Five steps to protect the soil
Although the production of plants is a relatively simple process, the highest standards for forestry, harvesting, and transportation are applied in the Biomass Department, so that each stage meets the sustainability standards established by the Bon Sucro and ProTerra certifications.
Plant production
In the first stage of this process, plants are born through very different procedures and depending on the species. For example, future Eucalyptus trees reproduce by seeds and clonally in the plant nursery, which has the capacity to produce 500 thousand seedlings per month. In the case of Leucaena, production is carried out by multiplying seeds from the sowing requirements.
Soil preparation
This is followed by a vital task that, among other steps, includes removing weeds, identifying adequate soil moisture and, above all, preparing the land that will receive the seeds or seedlings. On the other hand, the tillage is only 80 cm wide and this allows the planted trees to have less impact on the soil, guaranteeing the sustainability of the project under the standards of international forest certifications for the use of agrochemicals.
Minimum tillage (autopilot)
For tillage or field cultivation tasks, the seeders are operated on autopilot, so operators can focus on getting the job done correctly without fatigue. With this technology, costs of supplies and errors due to lack of visibility are reduced. In addition, the seeders furrow the terrain with greater precision, dosing seeds and fertilizer evenly.
Sowing
The seeds or seedlings distributed in the fields are numbered in order to obtain their traceability. Thanks to this meticulous control, the department can determine the optimal harvest shift for each forest species. The complete cycle for Eucalyptus is around 5 years; for Leucaena, it is around 2 years.
Harvest
During the last stage of production, the harvesting machines penetrate the energy plantations to obtain primary biomass, that is, the one that comes from forest species such as Eucalyptus and Leucaena. The harvest fronts take advantage of the wood to produce wood chips or chips that are transported to the San Pedro Bio Energy plant as raw material for power generation.