AI-driven project to modernize New Brunswick forestry getting $50M boost from Ottawa

From climate change to U.S. tariffs, New Brunswick’s forestry industry is facing growing pressures.

To alleviate those pressures, Ottawa is offering up to $50 million to help build a digital forestry centre that will create online tools to better track and manage the province’s wood supply — in part with artificial intelligence.

“Forestry is not only part of our economy, it is the pillar that supports numerous communities, offers stable jobs and contributes significantly to the prosperity of our region,” said New Brunswick’s natural resources minister, John Herron.

“By leveraging our sector’s strengths and embracing digitization, automation, AI … we can drive productivity and attract new investment.”

The New Brunswick Strategic Innovation Centre in Digital Forestry is an initiative led by the Northern Hardwoods Research Institute in collaboration with ResearchNB.

The project aims to help identify available wood, decide what to plant and harvest, and identify areas to protect.

It will also include log tracking and a virtual model of the forest.

“That means (a) more reliable supply, more efficient, cost-competitive operations, better informed investment decisions, lower costs and better competitiveness for the industry,” said Tim Hodgson, the federal minister of energy and natural resources.

The digital tools can also help improve the entire value chain, including the cost of transporting lumber, officials said.

“Forty per cent of (trucks) travel empty. They go to the woods, pick up a load, deliver to a mill, and then they will turn around and go to the same spot where there’s more wood or go into a different area,” said Gaetan Pelletier, Northern Hardwoods Research Institute’s executive director.

“To reduce this 40 per cent of what we call empty miles, by digitalization, by optimization, by centralizing the dispatch of those 200, 300 trucks in New Brunswick, we could save annually $25 million.”

According to the province, the forestry industry supports about 24,000 jobs in New Brunswick and contributes roughly $1.5 billion a year to the province’s economy.

When asked whether this AI-driven technology would eliminate jobs, Pelletier told reporters it would do the opposite.

“I think it will create jobs and it will create very interesting jobs and enable those who are doing the work today to be more productive during the day,” he said.

The total cost of the project is approximately $86 million.

The federal government’s $50 million commitment is conditional and subject to project approval and “due diligence.”

The remaining amount, according to Herron, would be divided between ResearchNB and the province’s Department of Natural Resources.