Learn Spanish (Latin America): La empresa fabrica juguetes de madera desde hace veinte años. - The company has been manufacturing wooden toys for twenty years.

In Spanish, when an action started in the past and is still happening right now, you usually use the present tense. English uses the more complex present perfect continuous ("has been manufacturing"), but Spanish keeps it simple! Because the company still makes the toys today, we just use the present tense fabrica.

What exactly does desde hace mean here? Could I just use por to mean "for"?

Desde hace is the standard way to say "for [amount of time]" when talking about an action that started in the past and is still ongoing. If you used por (por veinte años), it would usually imply the action is already finished (e.g., they made toys for 20 years, but now they make electronics). To show they are still doing it, you need desde hace.

Can I put desde hace veinte años at the beginning of the sentence?

Yes, you absolutely can! You could say, Desde hace veinte años, la empresa fabrica juguetes de madera. Both word orders are very common and natural in Spanish.

Why is it juguetes de madera instead of just putting the material first like "madera juguetes"?