Tannin industry
Preservation of forests in Italy
Since its beginning, the tannin industry has represented an important incentive for the correct management of the forests, from which it obtains the necessary wood for its productions. This is at the same time a positive development opportunity for those mountain areas characterized by a poor economy with low a population.
A favourable relationship that, in the case of Silvateam’s Italian productions, is reflected from the beginning in the preservation of the Castanetum (chestnut forest), a vegetation zone accounting for almost one-quarter of the entire forest area of the country, with a marked presence in the regions which historically make up the Italian supply basin of the Group (Piedmont, Tuscany, Liguria, Lombardy, Emilia Romagna and Calabria).
It is the characteristics of this species (that infertile environments maintain its agamic reproduction capacity) that allows the chestnut wood from the forests to be used for the tannin production in a scheduled way depending on the productivity of the forest. Productivity that, due to the continuous attention paid by man, is three times higher than may be found in the environment which does not have correct agronomic management.
The direction of forestry intervention allows pruning for the regeneration and the improvements of the trees and multiple management possibilities, which are interesting from the production, landscape and biodiversity point of views. This activity, with regard to Silvateam’s production, involves thousands of suppliers in the whole country. Loggers, who in their own regions are fulfilling not only an economic function but also ecological and conservation of woods which could be abandoned, with consequences such as fire and parasites that cause damage to the forests.
As happens with the fruit production, wood production is nowadays integrated with closely related multiple activities which are all needed in the same measure for sustainable growth. It is not a coincidence that the protection of the chestnut forests is framed within the European Community Development Programme. This program aims at the integration of the agricultural and forest activities with the economic activities of the small and medium-sized companies. This program allows an increase in the value of traditional and high-quality productions and the protection and development of the landscape.