There are numerous factors that play into the decision between natural versus artificial

regeneration, including cost, risk to the soil, temporal factors, yield expectations, flexibility,

genetics, local crop consideration etc. While natural regeneration is a more sustainable and

environmentally-friendly approach to reforestation, many consider the upfront costs of

artificial regeneration to be worth the price for a lower-risk and more quickly profitable

process. It often makes sense to give natural regeneration a chance first and to combine

elements from both approaches, for example by only planting a small cluster of trees and

letting that spark the natural regeneration cycle (Reid et al. 2018). This intermixed approach

has been an ongoing discussion for decades (Miegroet 1967, 2).