Key facts
![climbmax machine picking up logs on a slope](assets/On-page-images/Primary-Growth-Programmes/climax-steep-slope-harvester.jpg)
Programme start: November 2010
Programme end: June 2017
Total programme cost: $7.6 million
Crown funding: $3.7 million
Estimated economic benefits to NZ: $113 million per year by 2019
Commercial partners: Forest Growers Research Ltd
Programme outcomes
- Commercialised 7 new harvesting products, including:
- the ClimbMAX harvester, a winch-assisted machine that can operate safely on steep slopes of up to 45 degrees
- systems for operating forestry harvesting machines remotely, providing safer working conditions.
- Prototypes of 7 products, including a robotic tree-to-tree felling machine that doesn’t touch the ground.
- Encouraged innovation in mechanised harvesting systems across the forest industry (over $80 million invested by industry since 2012).
- Approximately 165 workers removed from hazardous tree felling and breaking out roles.
- Reduced cable harvesting costs by 17%.
For more information about the programme's achievements, check the final and post-programme reports.
Watch a video about Steepland Harvesting
Outcome logic model
- Outcome logic model for Steepland Harvesting [PDF, 465 KB]
Final programme reports
- Steepland Harvesting – Final report [PDF, 1.1 MB]
- Steepland Harvesting – Commercialisation review summary report [PDF, 1.4 MB]
Post-programme report
- Steepland Harvesting – Post-programme report [PDF, 989 KB]
Background to the programme
The New Zealand forestry sector and the Ministry for Primary Industries identified steep-country harvesting as an important bottleneck to increasing forestry profitability and worker safety.
The Steepland Harvesting solution
![Teleoperation of feller buncher](assets/On-page-images/Primary-Growth-Programmes/teleoperation-of-feller-buncher.jpg)
Forest Growers Research brought together research providers, forest owners, and tree harvest companies on a programme to enable safe, efficient harvesting of commercial forestry on steep marginal land.
The programme aimed to:
- reduce steepland harvesting costs by 25%
- grow harvest machinery manufacturing in New Zealand to future-proof the sector
- make harvesting jobs safer.
The centrepiece of the programme was the development of a steep slope, feller–buncher machine which can operate safely and efficiently on steep slopes without endangering workers.
Audit and progress reports
- Audit – Steepland Harvesting [PDF, 197 KB]
- Progress review summary report - Steepland Harvesting [PDF, 1022 KB]
- Quarterly progress report summaries