Home-grown for the holidays

In many locales, the Friday after Thanksgiving signals the start of the Christmas-tree buying season. These days, more American consumers are making a beeline to local tree farms as part of their holiday tradition. For folks who aren’t within driving distance of a farm, the neighborhood garden center has become the go-to place for a fresh, locally grown Christmas tree.

Local growers gain ground
The heart of the tree farm is locally-grown product. According to the National Christmas Tree Association, about 350,000 acres are dedicated to growing Christmas trees, with favorites being the balsam fir, Douglas fir, Fraser fir, noble fir, Scotch pine, Virginia pine and the white pine.

National Christmas Tree Association’s (NCTA) survey on Christmas trees and the economy, published in October 2010, pointed out that consumers in the U.S. purchased 18.2 million farm-grown Christmas trees and 11.7 million artificial trees in 2009. Both figures are unchanged from the previous Christmas season.

Other results from the survey indicated a rise in prices on real and artificial Christmas trees compared to 2008 prices. The average amount spent on a farm-grown tree was $40.92 compared to $77.01 spent on an artificial tree. This is a 21 percent increase from the previous year.

“It’s hard to point to a specific cause for the increase,” said NCTA president Richard Moore, a tree farmer from Groton, N.Y. “It’s definitely not a function of tree prices, at least not for the farm-grown trees. Final retail prices vary greatly and can be influenced by many factors, both general and localized, including size of tree, species, USDA grade, distance shipped, market demand, type of retailer—even day of the week.”

Indeed, the NCTA intimated that industry experts cite many factors influencing sales, including harvest conditions, number of customers traveling for the holidays, and even the number of days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“The good news for us family farms growing Christmas trees is the same poll asked what they [respondents] plan to do for Christmas 2010,” said Moore. “And 31 percent said they planned to buy a farm-grown Christmas tree, so we should be very busy this year.”

Market mechanics
Gerrit Strathmeyer of Strathmeyer Christmas Trees in Dover, Pa., is part of a fourth generation tree farm. Strathmeyers’ trees are grown in six Pennsylvania counties, and they sell wholesale and cut-and-choose trees to their local market.

Strathmeyer Christmas Trees also distributes Sheerlund products, which include Christmas tree stands, netting tags and other products for retail sales.

For the wholesale market, Strathmeyer Christmas Trees sells to mass merchants, as well as area grocery stores, garden centers and farm markets. At the direct-selling level, Strathmeyer provides a fundraising venue for the Boy Scouts, Lions’ Clubs, an area church and a local fire company. And, Strathmeyer Christmas Trees sells its locally-grown trees on 15 lots in the Lancaster, York and Harrisburg, Pa. areas.

“Our strategy for selling retail is to hook up with some non-profits, i.e.—Lions’ Clubs, church groups,” Strathmeyer said. “We have a program that we developed over the years that makes the selling of trees a fundraiser. The non-profit makes money, and we do the same. The non-profit gets the community support, and they sell more trees.

“At our lots, we are supporting the non-profits, and at our cut-your-own farm, we donate to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. This supports our local community and has helped us be successful over the years.”

Prize-winning tree earns placement at the White House

The red ribbon indicates that this Douglas fir is the pick for the White House Christmas tree in 2010. It stands over 19 feet in the field, but it will be trimmed down to 18.5 feet for the Blue Room.Earlier this year, the National Christmas Tree Contest tapped Christopher Botek, owner of Crystal Springs Tree Farm II, in Lehighton, Pa., to provide the White House Christmas tree. Botek has experience presenting his trees to people in high places. For the 2009 Charistmas season, he presented a tree to grace the Pennsylvania State Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg, Pa., which he’ll also be doing again for the 2010 Christmas season. Botek’s champion pedigree is a proverbial pine cone that didn’t fall far from the tree, as his parents, Francis and Margaret Botek, were Grand Champions in 2006 and presented the White House Christmas tree to Laura Bush. “It’s definitely a source of family pride now that I have won the contest, too,” said Botek. “I was very proud of my parents in 2006, and I’m sure they’re ecstatic for me. It’s such an honor for us tree farmers.”

Strathmeyer hasn’t noticed any price wars between his company and his competition at the retail level. “On the wholesale,” he said, “it has become more of a war.”

Gary Thomas is president of the Pennsylvania Christmas Tree Growers Association and is part owner of Jarrettsville Nursery in Jarrettsville, Md. His family has been growing trees in Harford County since 1961.

“We plant thousands of four- to five-year-old transplants in the spring to be harvested six to nine years later,” Thomas said.

Thomas’ locally-grown brand is the Fraser fir tree. “We have Fraser fir growing in the field up to 11 feet for our customers to cut down. We also have Douglas fir, Concolor fir, blue spruce and white pine. We do not allow tagging of trees at our farm. It’s been almost impossible to protect the tagged tree from other customers cutting the tagged tree down for their own,” said Thomas.

Thomas also sells value-added products, such as wreaths, poinsettias, greens, stands, tree bags and preservatives. In addition, his farm provides special services that appeal to his customer base, such as free tree drilling, handsaws to cut down trees, as well as shaking off loose needles and dirt, and bailing all trees for the drive home. Thomas said he doesn’t compete with fellow tree farmers over tree prices.

In Christmases past, families would go into the woods to cut their trees. Today, Christmas tree farmers try to re-create that tradition by providing agri-tainment on their farm for families to enjoy. Some tree farmers will have wagon rides and a petting zoo. Of course, food is always an attraction—and Thomas has a full food concession stand at his farm. On the weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Thomas and his crew provide bonfires and marshmallows, as well as a visit from Santa Claus. “This year,” Thomas said, “we added a train set up from the North Pole.”

Freelance contributor Wendy Komancheck writes about agriculture and the green industry from her home near Ephrata, Pa. You can contact her at wendykomancheck@gmail.com.