FAE Stories - Italy
Managing nursery green waste in Italy
Volume reduction, wood chip production and agronomic reuse with the FAE UMM/S forestry mulcher
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F.lli Brunato has been operating since 1996 in the province of Padua, Italy. Founded by Tomas Brunato, the company began its activity in excavation, earthmoving and construction works, before embarking on a path of growth and diversification that led to an additional specialization in land clearing and maintenance, nursery management, environmental remediation and dirt road restoration.
Today the company mainly operates in Veneto and in the north-eastern regions of Italy, offering its customers a fleet that includes an FAE UMM/S forestry mulcher, RSM and STCM stone crushers, and an SSM forestry tiller. This equipment allows the company to tackle a wide range of jobs, including particularly demanding ones, with efficiency and reliability.
The project featured in this story took place at an important nursery in the province of Treviso, with the aim of reducing the volume of debris generated by pruning and general vegetation management. The material, consisting of branches, dry and dead vegetation, pieces of trunks, stumps, and other woody debris, is collected and piled in a dedicated area for mulching operations.
The nursery covers an area of approximately 8 hectares / 20 acres and requires periodic debris clean-up. In this context, F.lli Brunato works in the accumulation area, producing wood chips directly on site. Once mulched, the material is collected with an excavator, loaded onto a truck and distributed in the surrounding fields, where it is used to improve soil fertility.
The operating conditions required a machine capable of working continuously on highly heterogeneous material, made up of elements of different sizes and characteristics. The presence of fine branches, trunks, stumps and woody debris of varying consistencies required careful organization of the handling and loading phases to ensure safety, productivity and reliability throughout the work cycle.
For this project, an FAE UMM/S-200 forestry mulcher was used, paired with a 280 hp Valtra S274 tractor. The available power, continuously variable transmission and operating mass of the tractor made it possible to take full advantage of the mulcher’s performance, even when working on piles of large woody material.
With a fixed rotor system, the UMM/S is designed to mulch vegetation, brush and trunks up to 35 cm / 14 inches in diameter. The model can be paired with tractors from 180 to 350 hp and is notable for its weight and robust build, which facilitate use even on uneven or sloping terrain. The alignment PTO system “W” connected to the gearbox allows for a wider PTO shaft working angle in various operating conditions, while the Spike PRO counter-blades help improve mulching quality and overall productivity.
The result was a significant reduction in debris, from an initial volume of approximately 1,500 m³ / 53,000 ft³ to about 300 m³ / 10,500 ft³ of final material, in 16 hours of work. Turning the material into wood chips made the subsequent collection, handling, transport and distribution in the fields faster and more efficient.
Among the main advantages identified by F.lli Brunato are high productivity, reduced overall processing times, fewer handling operations due to volume reduction, and machine reliability during prolonged use. Reusing the mulch to return nutrients to the soil turns what would otherwise be a waste byproduct into a valuable resource in a sustainable agricultural cycle.
