Welz Eco Land
1989
The family business Wertholz Timber Trading Company LLC is founded by Werner Welz, the owner of Welz Eco Land Holding LLC and his father, Werner Welz senior. Start of international trade in wood raw materials for the pulp, paper and sawmill industry.
1992
In 1992, a strategic agreement was concluded with an Italian paper group to develop Eastern European markets for the supply of raw materials. Subsidiaries were founded in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
1994
The good cooperation with our customers in the Italian paper industry led to a further expansion step to Estonia in 1994. The wood is exported by ships via various storage yards.
1996
In 1996 we started to buy the raw material wood directly from the cane in Romania and to cut and transport it with our own equipment.
1997
The year 1997 was marked by an important milestone in the history of the company. From that year onwards, not only was wood purchased, but also land and land was acquired and the areas were sustainably managed. The first forest areas were purchased in Estonia and Slovakia, and with our forest holdings in Germany, the forests managed by us were expanded to over 3,500 hectares.
2001
In 2001 we took the opportunity to purchase 300 ha of forestry land in the Eastern part of the German Ore Mountains.
2007
Our 15 years of positive experience in Slovakia led us to the decision to expand our field of activity to include agriculture. For this purpose, we acquired the first farm in Eastern Slovakia with an area of 1,000 hectares.
2017
After 10 successful years in agriculture, we have expanded our agricultural and forestry land with another farm in western Slovakia with 1,540 hectares of property and 1,200 hectares of leased land. At the same time we have converted our farms to organic farming.
2018
In 2018 we expanded our agricultural and forestry operations in western Slovakia by an additional 980 hectares of leased land.
”At Welz Eco Land we buy, develop and manage agricultural and forestry land. We are convinced that completely dispensing with pesticides is the only way to offer our customers products of the highest quality. In this way we also ensure the sustainability of agriculture and forestry for future generations.
Werner WelzCeo Welz Eco Land
Locations
Where can you find us?
Wertholz Eesti OÜ & WWForest Management OÜ – ESTONIA
Welz Eco Land – GERMANY
Welz Eco Land Holding GmbH – AUSTRIA
Lontov Farm s.r.o. – SLOVAKIA
The roots of Welz Eco Land Holding lie in Carinthia and go back to 1989, when Werner Welz – the owner of Welz Eco Land – founded the family business Wertholz Timber Trading Company with his father. The Welz family has been active in the forestry and agricultural sector for generations. Werner Welz has taken a further step in its development with the purchase of forestry and agricultural land in Estonia, Germany and Slovakia. The company headquarters is still located in St. Veit / Glan, from where the subsidiaries are strategically controlled.
Our forestry operation Bärentein in the Saxon Switzerland district of the Eastern Ore Mountains is situated in a scenic location on both sides of the small Müglitz River at an altitude between 530 and 590 m. It is a consolidated forest estate with its own hunting area, on a total area of 285 ha the forestry focus is on spruce. In addition, larch, beech, oak, various hardwoods and Douglas fir are also found. This is particularly prevalent on the approx. 35 hectares that were reforested after Cyclone Kyrill in 2007. A total of 8 hectares of leased farmland and two small ponds are also part of the property. The total hunting area amounts to approx. 300 ha due to enclosed foreign plots. Red deer, mouflon, wild boar and roe deer can be found in cloven-hoofed game species. Your contact person: Werner Welz (Owner and CEO of Welz Eco Land Holding LLC) Mail to: werner.welz@welzecoland.com.
Our farms are located in the southwest of Slovakia. The Danube lowland shows the warmest and driest climate, from which our farms in Lantov and Cernik benefit. Lontov Farm is owned by Welzecoland and has a total area of 1,544 ha, about 1,380 ha of which are used for agriculture. Lontov is a scenic area with fertile soil and is characterised by its proximity to Vienna and Budapest. Cernik Farm is a leased agricultural enterprise with 1,050 ha of top-quality soil, some of which can be irrigated artificially. Cernik Farm is located 180 km east of Vienna. Our newest location is Bielovce. The farm is directly adjacent to our property in Lontov, which enables us to optimise the cost of management by exploiting economies of scale. Bielovce has 860 hectares of agricultural land, a large part of which can also be irrigated by the adjacent Ipelsky River. We supply the products of our agricultural enterprises in Slovakia mainly to customers in Slovakia, Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
In Estonia, we manage around 3,200 ha of forestland, which are unrounded holdings of between 30 and 400 ha. The forest picture differs significantly from that of Central Europe, as most of the forests are mixed forests of birch, pine, spruce, aspen and alder. We develop these farms by repairing and extending the road network and drainage. We reforest, maintain young crops and stands and introduce a modern, IT-supported and sustainable forest management system.
Team
The success of Welz Eco Land Holding LLC has many reasons. The most important of these is our team and our shared values: quality, sustainability and open and fair dealings with each other, with customers and suppliers.
Werner Welz is the founder and owner of Welz Eco Land Holding GmbH. He is responsible for the strategic development of the group and has developed the company from an international timber trading company to a company owning agricultural and forestry land in the best regions of Europe.
Arto Matikainen has been the Managing Director of our subsidiaries Wertholz Eesti and Welz Eco Land OÜ since 1995. Like four generations before him, he is also a passionate forester and is thus continuing a family tradition. Arto studied forestry and timber trade and holds a bachelor's degree in this field. He has 45 years experience in forestry, gained in Finland, Estonia, Germany, Zambia, Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary and Israel.
Josef Schmidt is responsible for the agricultural operations of Welz Eco Land Holding LLC. He grew up on his parents' farm in Lower Austria and has been involved with the subject of organic farming since graduating from the Francisco Josephinum Federal Agricultural College in Wieselburg. After graduating from the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences in Vienna, he worked as a consultant for organic arable farms at Bio Austria and as a project manager for the qualification of farm managers in organic farming. Organic farming is a matter close to Josef's heart. He communicates his extensive specialist knowledge in a lively lecture activity to organic farmers who are interested in the implementation of new scientific findings in practice.
