MANAGEMENTEric Seitz, Project Lead To test his assumptions about the profitability of timber farming, as a way to save native growth and reclaim non-virgin grazing and farmland for sustainable timberculture, Mr. Seitz developed an eight-hectare test plantation of Eucalyptus, which will be harvested in early 2012. The first crop is expected to bring somewhere near R$35 per cubic meter of wood produced. Mr. Seitz expects the harvest to produce up to 200 cubic meters of wood per hectare. The five-year test project is expected to return over one hundred percent of Mr. Seitz’s original investment, including land purchase costs. |
Eric Seitz was born and raised in California. In 1993 he graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in Regional Development. After university, Mr. Seitz worked on major accounts for world-class telecom company Qualcomm, Inc. at the firm’s headquarters in San Diego, California. When an opportunity arose for Qualcomm to tap into the burgeoning South American telecom market, Mr. Seitz was part of a team tasked with growing busuiness, within the region. After several years of dramatically increasing market share in South America, Mr. Seitz left Qualcomm and moved to Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, SP Brazil, where he was a consultant to SENAR, a Brazilian, federally-funded, rural development organization. While working with SENAR, Mr. Seitz’s project management roll gave him access to timber industry experts and hands-on experience in the Brazilian timber business and related areas. Mr. Seitz participated in cash-crop tree-planting projects; forestry asset management; and native reforestation projects. Mr. Seitz oversaw the planting and management of thousands of trees.