Pine seed business. How a former leshoz worker became a successful entrepreneur

The story of an entrepreneur who opened a rare but profitable business in the village where I grew up. Priangarye region (Krasnoyarsk Territory). He worked in the local forestry, but after reorganization and layoffs in the early 2000s, he switched to free bread.

Knowing many of the processes that take place inside forestry, he organized the collection and processing of cones into seeds. What are they needed for? Many forestry enterprises of the country have nurseries where seedlings are grown. In Siberia, these are mainly pine seedlings:

Seeds are planted in ridges and wait until they reach two years of age. Then they pull it out in the spring, put it in boxes, and transport it to the places of forest restoration. And with the help of the sword they planted Kolesov. Everything according to plans from the Ministry and the Forestry Agency.

So, in order for the seeds to appear, you need to collect pine cones and extract them. The leshozes do not have their own workers for this process. The cones are taken from the villagers. So the former employee decided to simplify this task for the leshoz. He himself organized the collection of pine cones and their processing into seeds:

The cost of a kilogram of a bud is RUB 25-35 And a kilogram of pine seeds at that time was RUB 20,000 Currently, prices have dropped due to competition and seeds can be purchased at a price 7-10 thous. RUB / kg

The seeds were purchased by the leshoz, and maybe not only by the local one. Perhaps the clients in this process were also forest users (those who sawed wood). I know for sure that we have been in the region since 2019. there is a decree that every forest user is obliged to restore the forest in full volume of its felling. Quote:

Changes to the Forest Code of the Russian Federation (in 2019) inform: all forest users, without exception, are obliged to restore forests after felling. Persons using forests are responsible for the availability of planting and seed material. It is recommended to purchase seeds in advance, including in forestries that harvest them. According to the Ministry of Forestry of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, in 2020 compensatory reforestation had to be carried out on an area of ​​more than 5 thousand sq. ha. A source: http://www.krskstate.ru/press/news/wood/0/news/94521

How is the pine cone harvested? Mainly in felling areas during felling. The tops of the trees remain in the plots for some time, they are raked up later. And knowing where the felling of the forest took place, the locals collect a pine cone there. Also harvested from young pines. Harvested cones are regulated and must comply with OST 56-23-75 (available on the network).

How do you extract the seeds? The cones are closed in winter. In order for them to open up and spill out the seeds, they are heated to a temperature of 50-55 grams. (the main thing is not to overheat). In artisanal conditions, this can be done in a steam bath by placing a cone in the boxes:

From the heat, the cones dry out and open. Some of the seeds spill out of them. But not all. For complete extraction of seeds, drums with a mesh are used:

In industrial drying, the drums rotate for up to two days together with the heating of the air in the pine cone dryer. But you can first heat and dry the cone, and then pass it through the drums.

The seeds still need to be separated from their impeller. In leshozes, this is done in special mobile pine dryers:

ShP-0.6 mobile pine cone dryer and equipment inside it.

It contains heaters, drums and seed cleaning machines. The whole process is described here: https://www.sinref.ru/000_uchebniki/04600_raznie_2/744_Tekhnologia_i_mashiny_lesovosstanovleni_2013/018.htm

If done in artisanal conditions, then the seeds are sifted, separated from debris, separated from the impeller. The seeds are stored in sealed bottles of 15 kg, pre-treated with potassium permanganate and high temperature:

Yes, you still need to get a quality certificate. You need to check the seeds for fungi and germination at the seed station and assign them a class.

From 100 kg of cones, 1 kg of seeds is obtained (yield 1%). If the bump is taken from the population, then the costs will be 2500-3500 rubles. for 1 kg of seeds. There are heating costs. If the dryer is heated with recycled dry pine cone, the costs will be slightly reduced. The cost will be added in the form of glass containers and the cost of obtaining a certificate.

From 45-50 kg of seeds, seedlings can be grown in nurseries to restore 100 hectares of forest.

This direction can be developed by packing seeds as seeds of carrots, cucumbers, etc. Distribution - whole country, including garden hypermarkets. Here are examples of the cost of pine seeds in the amount of 25-50 pcs. (per bag):

As you can see, when selling such volumes, the profitability is several times higher.

Not to say that this is a complicated matter, but contacts are needed for the sale of products. If someone lives in the forest regions of the country and has equipment, then you can collect a cone from young pines or from trees that have just been cut down in felling areas and process them into seeds. With proper packaging, they can be stored for a long time. From the collected and processed ton of cones (33 bags), you get 10 kg of seeds (income 70 thousand. rub.). For the countryside, this is already good money.

So, local residents said that during the season, a former worker of the forestry enterprise formed a huge mountain of dry cones of several tons. But since This is a seasonal harvesting and processing of pine cones, then later this rural entrepreneur was engaged in logging and selling sawn timber. But he started with pine seeds.

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