Electronic management of agricultural holdings with emphasis on forestry activity

Elektronsko poslovanje kmetijskih gospodarstev z izrazito gozdarsko dejavnostjo

Digitalization and information and communication technologies (ICT) have a significant impact on the development, efficiency, and effectiveness of forestry and the entire forest-wood value chain. Digital technologies support the sustainability aspects of forest management while increasing supply chain security. The project eGOZD aims at introducing e-business on selected agricultural holdings in the Slovenian context. In the project's first year, the farms started to implement digital records using the 'Wood Traceability System'. The European Union adopted the EUTR on timber and the legal logging of forests to combat the trade in illegally harvested wood. The Regulation requires legal and natural persons to set up a due diligence system and related traceability of timber and timber products from their origin onwards. By setting up a system, producers and traders can prove that their products have been sourced following the legislation in force in the country of origin. The practical example aims to educate and train agricultural holdings in the use of the digital web-based system. The farms were thus familiarised with the MyForest online information system and all the existing functionalities of the system. The new online tools, which are also equipped with audio-video learning material, are used to familiarise farmers with the meaning, objectives, and advantages of introducing electronic records. The new practices have been well received by farmers, who have said: "The great added value is the individualized practical part and the targeted training according to the needs and challenges of each farm."

Digitalisation and new information and communication technologies have a significant impact on the development, efficiency and effectiveness of forestry and the forest-wood chain as a whole. Digital technologies support the sustainability aspects of forest management while increasing supply chain security. The project aims at introducing e-business on selected agricultural holdings in the Slovenian context. In the second year of the project, agricultural holdings participated in the second eGOZD training course, where they were introduced to online tools for forest management planning. The agricultural holdings were trained to collect the forest stand data they need to produce an estate plan. Practical tests were used to produce forest management plans. The forest management plan will give the farmer or forest owner an insight into the forest information and the possibilities for future forest management. With the forest estate plan in place, farmers will proceed to practical tests. The purpose of the practical example is to educate and train the farms in the use of the digital web-based system. The new online tools, which are also equipped with audio-video learning material, will be used to familiarise farmers with the meaning, objectives and advantages of introducing e-commerce. The project will offer new and simplified possibilities to plan, monitor and carry out works and to manage forests on farms more efficiently.

In the final period of the project, the project team presented a web-based solution for the development of a forest management plan. The solution enables the collection and interpretation of data on forest tenure, forest infrastructure and other data published on different publicly available platforms in one place using interoperability. The project "eGozd" has developed new and simplified options for planning, monitoring and carrying out work and for more efficient private forest management (FM). The forest estate plan provides the forest owner with an overview of forest data and the possibilities for future forest management. The FM plan is linked to current prices for forest timber and tools for calculating the costs of timber extraction. Forest owners can monitor the performance of their forest estate and decide on the measures to be taken in the plan. The plan considers nature conservation guidelines and promotes habitat types' conservation or even improvement. A well-prepared management plan will ensure that the potential of the timber is properly exploited, contributing to the sustainable development of the rural areas. Using technical information systems, business processes can be digitised. By visualising and economically evaluating individual production processes, private owners gain better control over the costs of producing forest wood sorts. Forest owners can thus optimise their own different production processes on the same site, or the same production process on different sites, or even replace their own implementation by hiring a contractor due to their own costs being too high; this serves to decide on the most optimal implementation of the works.

One of the goals of transferring knowledge into practice is to expand the circle of advanced users of the MojGozdar online platform and to exchange user experiences. The transfer of knowledge into practice was carried out at the project partnership members site or directly at the knowledge recipients home. Members of the partnership, who are already skilled users of MojGozdar online platform, introduced the use of selected MojGozdar tools to nearby forest owners and are not members of the project partnership. Knowledge transfer was carried out in individual or group workshops. Together, they debated the advantages that the online system offers to forest owners when managing forest property: selection of the contractors, preparation and management of the necessary documentation, creation of a property plan, etc. The recipients of the knowledge were provided with a form where they can report their testing to the leading partner and suggest possible improvements to the system.