Are You Interested In Getting Into The Christmas Tree Business?
When I was a kid, I loved going to the tree farm with my Dad and picking out a Christmas tree. Yes, the weather was always cold and the tree was always a pain to drag. But the mug of hot chocolate the tree farmer provided was hot even through our mitts, and the scent of the tree once we got it home was heavenly.
However, these days I've been reading a bit about the current state of the Christmas tree industry in Canada. It is an eye-opener to see how things look to the farmers who now stand on the other side of that giant pot of steaming hot chocolate.
A very recent report by Statistics Canada entitled Christmas Trees…By the Numbers indicates that the Christmas tree industry in Canada is in decline. It states that the value of farm cash receipts for Christmas trees in Canada was 59.4 million dollars in 2009, "down 8.7% from the $65.0 million registered in 2008" (from the website). Since 2000, farm cash receipts for Christmas trees have declined nearly 12%.
There is an interesting article about this problem by David Milstead in the Globe and Mail. It discusses the difficulties being experienced by Christmas tree growers in Canada: Christmas tree growers bowing out (December 1st, 2010 pg. B9).
If you wish to start a Christmas tree business despite this information, there are some books at the library that will get you started:
As well, check out the Canadian Christmas Tree Growers Association website. Although their statistics are not as up-to-date as Statistics Canada's, there is other interesting information included there, such as the types of evergreens usually used as Christmas trees, and their characteristics.
You should also be aware of an important segment of your competition: artificial Christmas trees. According to the same Statistics Canada report I mentioned above, the value of artificial Christmas trees imported to Canada in 2009 was 39.6 million dollars. China was by far the biggest supplier of artificial Christmas trees to Canada, with 37.9 million dollars worth of trees shipped to Canada from that country. The rest of our artificial tree imports came from Thailand, United States, Mexico and Vietnam.
"Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall." ~Larry Wilde, The Merry Book of Christmas
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