Get your trees early: North American Christmas tree shortage felt in B.C.
Credit to Author: Cheryl Chan| Date: Mon, 02 Dec 2019 00:09:34 +0000
Christmas-tree growers and sellers are reporting a tighter supply of trees this year, part of a North American-wide shortage.
Pine Meadows Tree Farms in Chilliwack is one of the largest growers and sellers in the Lower Mainland. Its retail and U-cut division is in good shape with enough trees to last the season because they protected and prioritized those trees, said owner Tim Louwen. But its wholesale division, which buys trees from growers across Canada and resells them to other retailers, is hit hard.
“Basically, there’s not enough trees planted,” said owner Tim Louwen. “This year, we got half of what we wanted.”
It’s a similar situation in the U.S., where Louwen tried but failed to get trees from U.S. suppliers: “They said there’s no chance.”
Since Fraser firs and other Christmas-tree species take about 10 years to mature, the 2008 recession is a primary cause of the low supply. In 2008 and 2009, tree farmers planted fewer during difficult times.
Combine that with a decade of unpredictable weather and now there’s a shortage, Shirley Brennan, executive director of the Canadian Christmas Tree Growers Association, told Postmedia News.
“People will have to be more strategic. They may have to look around or choose a different species of tree in order to have one this year. We might not be able to accommodate that kind of tree that you’ve always had,” said Brennan.
In a good year, Peter Bladt of Armstrong Creek Farms usually cuts 250 trees from his two-acre Surrey lot. This year, he expects to cut only 180-200.
“We are going to be short again,” he said, chalking up the shortage to farming challenges and rising demand for fresh Christmas trees.
As a small grower he doesn’t think his crop affects overall supply in B.C., which gets a lot of its trees from Washington state and Oregon. But he believes the recession a decade ago is a factor.
“Farming Christmas trees is hard work,” he said. “Growing blueberries is more profitable per acre.”
Organizers at Aunt Leah’s Christmas Trees, which operates six lots in Metro Vancouver, has heard some smaller, newer Christmas-tree lots are struggling because of the shortage.
“You might not see them around this year because of the tree shortage, and prices have gone up so much,” said Angelina Oates, director of social enterprise for the non-profit group, which sells trees to raise funds for kids-in-care and young mothers. “A lot of the smaller organizations and non-profits can’t sustain it.”
It was already a challenge to get their orders filled this year, she noted.
“When we placed our order with our largest supplier, they couldn’t guarantee all our sizes,” said Oates. The organization couldn’t get the amount of trees they wanted for particular varieties. Prices, too, shot up an average of $4 per tree. The non-profit is swallowing some of the costs, opting for a modest increase of $1-per-tree-per-foot.
Many growers and sellers have the same advice for people who have their heart set on a fresh tree this year.
“Come early to pick out your tree,” said Oates.