As the pioneer of whole-tree harvesting in Ireland, Worrell Harvesting Ltd. is experiencing a dramatic increase in demand for its services. We caught up with founder Kenneth Worrell at his Ballybrittas, County Laois base to find out more about recent developments at his progressive operation.
With the demand for wood energy biomass on the rise as more and more companies strive to reduce their carbon footprints by switching their energy source from non-renewable fossil fuels to renewable wood, whole-tree harvesting has become an extremely attractive proposition. Kenneth Worrell of Worrell Harvesting specialises in harvesting all above-ground biomass and is helping growers to extract maximum value from their woodlands.
The advantages of biomass harvesting in clearfells are manifold. In a nutshell, the grower gets more from his forest. It’s an area that Kenneth has pioneered in Ireland, taking inspiration from his peers in Scandinavia, and one that is generating a very steady increase in business.
Removing the biomass amounts to better and more efficient forest management, generating more revenue for the grower, resulting in a clean and tidy site, lower greenhouse gases and a lower cost of getting the brash windrow. The next generation crop will have a full stocking of trees – 14% of the land for replanting can be taken up with windrows.
Problems with doing the first trimmings in the next crop can be solved as there will be no gaps in the crop for windrows, so the site can be thinned at a rate of one-in-seven. The value of the next crop is increased as there will be no boundary trees along the side where the windrows are (boundary trees with heavy branches have knots in the logs and sawmills place a lower value on such rough logs).
Furthermore, where the brash is put in the windrow, all the nutrients are concentrated in one area, leading to an increase in vegetation in this area. Establishing a new tree here can prove difficult as the ground is densely covered with vegetation. But, when the biomass is left on the site until the needles fall off, this ensures an even spread of nutrients all over the site.
Striving to provide the best timber harvesting, haulage and woodchip supplies services in Ireland, Worrell Harvesting Ltd. is a family-run business involved in forestry for the last 22 years. Having started harvesting with chainsaws, they now use the latest and most technologically-advanced harvesters capable of handling large or small quantities on any terrain, contracted to some of the largest sawmills in the country.
“I’m from a farming background and would have been involved as a sole trader harvesting timber with chainsaws from 1988 onwards,” Kenneth recalls. “I bought a harvester and a forwarder in 1992 and they were put into the company when I set it up in ’94.”
Having started off modestly as literally one man and his chainsaw, Kenneth Worrell now provides gainful employment to a team of 25, operating as many pieces of plant, between trucks and specialist machinery. Worrell Harvesting Ltd. provides a nationwide service. Such is the high standard of the services provided that work has been carried out extensively in France, Germany, England, Scotland and Wales in the past. However, due to soaring demand on the domestic front, Kenneth now caters for the home market exclusively.
“Our method of harvesting is different and new,” he confirms. “With this method, there is potentially 100% more timber in a tree for the farmer, although you won’t get this all the time. You will get at least 50% more timber – that’s what has us so busy.”
Regarding the many financial and environmental advantages of this whole-tree harvesting approach, Kenneth continues: “Firstly, we can harvest timber better. Also, the ground is better protected, while nutrients (needles) are scattered among the forest. We introduced this method to Ireland based on what we had seen in Finland and Sweden and studies from Waterford Institute of Technology, that up to double the volume of biomass can be got from early first thinnings and over the past 8 years we perfected our harvesting methods, to suit the Irish Forest and Irish customer.
In relation to the actual process of whole-tree, above-ground biomass harvesting, the Laois man explains: “We segregate the logs to get the valuable logs off the tree first. When it comes to pulp, we leave the branches on the tree to increase volume. The top of the tree is left in the forest as a product until the needles fall off. It is then extracted and also chipped, again increasing volume. How much of the top can be extracted depends on ground conditions but somewhere between 50% more and 100% more will come out of the forest.
“Because there’s an extra six- to nine-month wait, there’s a financial delay for me, while the farmer is also waiting … but in his case he’s waiting for something that he wasn’t going to be getting otherwise, so it’s not that much of a burden!”
Worrell Harvesting’s logs all go to sawmills same as before, while the pulp element is going into the burgeoning new woodchip / biomass market, which Kenneth has identified as a major potential growth area. “We are targeting this market and we predict growth in this area, although there is some concern as to where the product is going to come from in the future,” he says. “However, according to the Irish Timber Growers Association, private forestry in Ireland is going to increase from 300,000 metres cubed to 4 million metres cubed over the next 20 years.
“The Government are also supposed to be bringing in renewable heat incentives for companies to go down the green route for their energy needs and those will be welcome if and when they arrive.”
At present, Worrell Harvesting is supplying woodchip to Aurivo Co-op – who were one of the first agri-business companies in Ireland to install a Biomass energy system are a valued customer of Worrell Harvesting and operate their boiler very successfull and efficiently – Danone Nutrition Ireland, Bord Na Mona, Edenderry Power and a number of smaller businesses. The company is capable of processing 100,000 tonnes of biomass per year.
Kenneth, who is always on the look-out for skilled operators and truck drivers, purchased his first truck in ’98 and now runs a fleet of ten, including a brand-new 162 reg. He first got involved in woodship in 2007 and bought a specialised chipper to carry out whole-tree harvesting two years ago, while the rest of the harvesting machinery has been adapted accordingly.
“We also do a lot of site clearing, removing hedgerows / hardwood etc. and we chip all of that as well,” he points out. “We can chip any type of clean virgin timber.” Worrell Harvesting also purchase hardwood biomass, including everything from logs to hardwoods in hedgerows.
Going forward, it’s definitely a case of onwards and upwards for Worrell Harvesting Ltd.: “I have two new machines coming in – one harvester and one forwarder – and the plan is to keep developing the business to meet the demands of a growing market,” the pioneering Laois timber harvester concludes.
Worrell Harvesting Ltd,
Killenure,
Ballybrittas,
Portlaoise,
County Laois.
Tel: 045 529574
Mobile: 087 2599372
Fax: 045 529575
Email: [email protected]
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 4 No 6, July/August 2016
