Forestry, fungi and tractors, oh my!

Just another week in the life of an exchange student in Finland! Monday we spent time in a nearby school forest located on private land. We visited different sites where we learned about a few forest surveying techniques and aspects of Finnish forests in the South Ostrobothnia region.  The practical skills we learned include estimating total volume of timber, basal area, number of stems, site classification, tree age, tree height, how to mark for thinning and assessment of silvicultural operation is needed in a seedling stand. We learned to do all this using only a simple PVC pipe relascope and a couple tables provided pertaining to the forest type.

Juha Tianen, our Silviculture instructor, also showed us the dominant species of trees; Scots pine, silver birch and Norwegian spruce.  Common birch is also present while the understory consists of lingonberry (associated mainly with pine) and blueberry (associated with spruce). These berries are browse for animals and people alike though the season for them is running out as the weather gets colder.  The lush forest floor also supports an abundance of fungi, some of which are also edible. However, these fruiting bodies can be indicators of forest pathogens that can threaten the lives of living trees and can be detrimental to forest health if they spread throughout a stand. Root rots can be seen on roots exposed by logging machinery that rolled through moist areas disturbing the ground cover and opening wounds that predispose trees to disease. On the other hand, fungi play an important role in breaking down dead material and returning nutrients to the soil for the next generation of trees.

We returned to campus for lunch and afterwards we had our first lesson in agriculture machinery. Juhani Törmä, an agricultural engineer at Ilmajoki, brought us out to the barns and machine sheds to show us how the various equipment operates. He said that seeing the machines in person would help us learn much better than a powerpoint and he was quite right.  The first thing he did was introduce us to a Valtra front-loading tractor.  After reviewing the controls we actually got to drive the tractor for the first time and maneuver it between barrels!  It was quite the experience, we were all very excited. Apparently next time we’re backing a trailer between the barrels… I hope that goes smoothly as well.

Without having a background farming it’s hard to grasp the efficiency required to farm many hectares of land or care for herds of livestock. We were shown huge combine harvesters, mowers, precision choppers, mulchers, sowing machines, fertilizer spreaders, grain dryers, sprayers, snow blowers, milking machines and more.   Agricultural production has been revolutionized by technology and the Finnish farmers are eager to adopt these new, innovative methods.  Many of these newer machines even have computers on board keeping track of things like harvest yield, moisture, and fertilization needed depending on its purpose. The number of farms in Finland has been declining in the last 15 years and that trend is expected to continue. However, the average size of farms is increasing and raising the need for equipment advancement to care for these large plots of land.

We spent maybe ten minutes in a classroom on Monday but I’m amazed at how much we learn each day.  Reading a textbook doesn’t hold a candle to the priceless, hands on experience we’re getting in Ilmajoki.