With Christmas less than a month away, many families are getting ready to track down the perfect tree.
However, where they find that tree could affect the future of one of their province’s less-common resources.
Although the prairie provinces don’t have the lowest number of Christmas tree farms in Canada, their totals don’t amount to much when compared to some other provinces.
“It’s just a shame all these trees are growing in Eastern Canada and the United States that can be grown just as nice or better in Saskatchewan. It’s a resource we just haven’t realized,” said Geordie MacKay, president of the Saskatchewan Christmas Tree Growers Association and owner of a Christmas tree farm near North Battleford, Sask.
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He said most wholesale trees sold on the Prairies come from Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Being one of two wholesale producers in Saskatchewan, MacKay said he knows how difficult it can be for a local grower to produce enough trees to participate in the wholesale market.
Mackay’s farm, one of the largest in the province, plants about 20,000 trees a year. He said the average in Saskatchewan is only 500.
“It’s a very labour intensive business. We have a high turnover of growers who try and get into the business and then, I’d say, it’s under 10 percent of the people who start ever take a tree to market.”
He said this is partly because of the amount of work involved in developing a crop of trees.
He said irrigation and weed control can be challenging, but trimming, which needs to be done by hand, creates the most work.
“So, if you plant 20,000, like we’re doing, a year all of a sudden you’re shearing 40,000, 60,000, 80,000 (trees),” he said.
MacKay employs people to help with the work, but he said not all producers would be able afford to do so early in production.
It takes eight to 10 years for a Christmas tree to develop to the point when it can be sold, meaning producers have a long wait before they can make a profit.
“When you’re first getting into it, and you’re waiting for your first crop, it takes 10 years,” said Ron Chaplin, owner of a choose-and-cut farm near Saskatoon. “I thought I was nuts.”
However, despite this wait, Chaplin is quick to promote the benefits of producing and buying a local tree.
“Certainly, I think they (customers) will be happier with something that’s local, because it is going to be fresher and last longer and not lose its needles like maybe something that has to be shipped in.”
He said people seem to buy local trees from lots and choose-and-cut farms more often now.
“People are becoming aware that, hey, there are local trees, which is nice to see.”
