27 Mar 2025

Using drones to spray forests helps us optimize how we apply and use products, minimizing their consumption and maximizing environmental protection.

In Guaíba, Brazil, we use drones to help manage our forests. They can significantly improve our processes and resource efficiency. We use them to clean the land before planting, for example, to spray herbicides before and after planting, and to apply products after planting, using detailed information that technology provides.

CMPC Brazil is a pioneer in the use of drones in forest management. We use this state-of-the-art technology to optimize essential activities: chemical weeding prior to planting, the joint application of pre- and post-emergent herbicides, and the application of pre-emergent pesticides after planting.

Drones have many advantages compared to more traditional methods:

• Greater efficiency: Drones allow us to cover large areas quickly, reducing the time and cost required to carry out activities and the consumption of water per hectare.
• Increased precision: Drones allow the precise application of agricultural pesticides, reducing waste and environmental impact.
• Risk reduction: Drones can access hard-to-reach or dangerous areas, which means our workers don’t have to.

The addition of drones aligns perfectly with our way of working at Best. The management of routines, checklists, telemetry and equipment operating standards are jointly managed by the Team of Excellence and Operations staff. We are constantly striving to improve, to avoid waste and be more efficient which in turn will help us achieve our goals of being more competitive and optimizing our environmental protection by 2030.

Bernard Neutzling Czermainski, Operational Excellence and Innovation Analyst at CMPC Brazil, explained that "incorporating new technologies, such as the use of drones (automation), is a strategic and fundamentally-important tool; drones replace some manual and mechanized activities, mainly herbicide applications, and offer a solution in situations where people must not be put at risk,  reducing the exposure of people to chemical products, minimizing safety risks and resulting in lower water consumption. Drones have the advantage of getting a job done in a short time to a good standard, without increasing costs."