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Harvesting mechanization in plantations for wood production: working productivity and costs. Tree farming has developed rapidly since the early 1990s. Today, tree plantations play an important role in wood supply (including quality wood) and they can partly bridge the gap between national demand and supply which currently leads to substantial wood imports. The opportunity to start new local supply chains or improve the existing ones will have positive effects on the national economy. Against this background, the introduction of mechanized harvesting systems will result in a dramatic reduction of supply cost. This paper reports a full range of harvesting productivity and cost figures for the following plantation types: fast-growing conifers, high-value hardwoods (established following the ex-2080 EU grant scheme), eucalyptus and cottonwood. The purpose of this study is to provide essential information that may lead to the selection of the best technology option, adapted to the specific type of plantation and to the technology level of the harvesting contractor.

A series of cartographic models of analysis have been elaborated through the softwares ArcView GIS (ESRI 2002) and Surfer 8 (Golden Software 2002) to find optimal work systems for the wood extraction in an oak coppice, located on the Monti della Tolfa, near Rome, Italy. The main factors analyzed were the morphology of the territory and the roads characteristics. The methodological procedure followed was applied on the different classes of slope, the direction of water outflow, the presence of ditches and channels, the principal and secondary roads, the wood cover and the clearings. The possibility to employ tractors with cages, polyethylene chutes, mules and cable cranes has been examined, also identifying the fittest areas to their use. This first analytical phase was followed by a second phase dedicated to the evaluation of the technical feasibility. The proposed method contributes to a rational planning of the work site. The advantage could be the planning of extraction operations on the map, but it will be necessary to verify the method in field studies. Although this method has been developed on limited extensions of territories, it could be applicable to situations of greater complexity, representing the base for the creation of a tool that may be employed in ampler territorial contexts, such as Comunita Montane and hydrographic basins.