User:IvoShandor/Christmas tree farm



A Christmas tree farm is a type of tree farm where pine and fir trees are grown, purposely, for use as Christmas trees. Christmas tree farms can be found in many nations and across different continents. Some of the prominent producers of Christmas trees include the United States, Denmark, Canada and Great Britain. Natural Christmas trees do have their opponents, environmentalists cite concerns about chemical herbicide and pesticide use, as well as concerns about biodiversity, among the reasons for their opposition to Christmas tree farms. The industry presents itself as environmentally friendly.

Christmas tree farming can be a profitable business venture but often involves hard work and a lot of investment capital to get off the ground. Christmas trees are also vulnerable to numerous deadly pests and infections, including gall adelgids and sudden oak death. The crop's dependence on such environmental issues makes it a risky venture; after years of hard work one natural event can wipe out an entire crop. In the United States, where 35–40 million Christmas trees are grown and harvested annually, the industry was worth $506 million in 2004.

History
The first Christmas tree farm in the United States is believed to have began in 1901 when 25,000 Norway Spruce trees were planted by W. V. McGalliard in Mercer County, near Trenton, New Jersey. The trees were sold seven years later for US$1.00 each. Despite the early pioneers of the industry, by 1940 90 percent of all natural Christmas trees sold in the United States were still harvested from forests. The most popular species during that era, Balsam Fir, Douglas-fir, Black Spruce and White Spruce, were all readily available from forests.

Following World War II more trees began to be planted in plantations. Other changes were taking place as well, in the late 1940s and early 1950s farmers began to sheer trees in respond to customer demands for denser trees. During the 1960s the market for Christmas trees in the United States began to change. Part-time growers declined, while some part-time growers ceased operations others expanded their operations and became full-time Christmas tree farmers. Expansion occurred in all major U.S. Christmas tree growing regions, Michigan, the Pacific Northwest and North Carolina. The number of plantings increased in the late 1970s and continued to do so into the 1980s. One species, Scots Pine was planted in numbers which far exceeded demand for the product. As the number of individual farmers increased better marketing strategies and promotion programs were developed. Helicopters became a fixture on large farms during the early 1980s as growers used them to move trees from the field to the shipping yard.

Cultivation


Before the process of planting tree seedlings can begin Christmas tree cultivation involves pre-planting labor and has specific land requirements. Christmas tree farming was once seen as a viable alternative for low-quality farmland but that perception has changed within the industry. In general, land should be flat or gently rolling and relatively free of debris and undergrowth. Various other factors are important for Christmas tree farms concerning land and location, well-drained soil, proper pH, and appropriate soil type are among the factors. Growing Christmas trees is labor intensive and tasks such as land alteration, pest control and planting must all be completed. In addition, tree cultivation requires certain equipment, such as tractors, pesticide sprayers and shearing equipment.

Christmas tree farms are best located on relatively level land which is free of obstructions. In the past, Christmas tree farmers established their plantations on less desirable agricultural plots or "wastelands of agriculture". However, emphasis in modern Christmas tree farming has shifted toward the production of higher-quality trees, increasing land quality expectations as well. Indeed, some species of tree, such as the Fraser Fir, are unable to grow on low-quality, marginal farmland. Flat or gently rolling land is preferred to that with steep slopes and inclines, which is prone to erosion and fluctuations in fertility. Noticeable obstructions, such as rocks, fences or significant underbrush, are also undesirable.

The final stage of cultivation is harvest. Christmas tree farms can harvest trees in several ways, one of the more popular methods is the pick-your-own tree farm, where customers are allowed to roam the farm, select their tree, and cut it down themselves. This method eliminates much of the work associated with wholesale harvesting, where much of the cutting, and moving of the crop must be completed by the farmer. Other farmers cultivate potted trees, with balled roots, that can be replanted after use and recycled for use another year. Regardless of harvest methods, many jurisdictions have quality grades for Christmas trees, some compulsory others de facto.

Production
Christmas trees are produced worldwide on Christmas tree farms, in artificial tree factories and from native stands of pine and fir trees. Christmas trees, pine and fir trees purposely grown for use as a Christmas tree, are grown on plantations in many western nations, including Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. In Australia, the industry is relatively new, and nations such as the United States, Germany and Canada are among world leaders in annual production. Great Britain consumes about 8 million trees annually, while in North America between 35 and 40 million trees are sold during the Christmas season. In 2004, the U.S. industry was worth about $506 million. Artificial Christmas trees are mostly produced in China. Christmas tree prices were described using a Hotelling-Faustmann model in 2001, the study showed that Christmas tree prices declined with age and demonstrated why more farmers do not price their trees by the foot. In 1993, economists made the first known demand elasticity predictions for the natural Christmas tree market.

Most of the natural Christmas trees used worldwide are grown on Christmas tree plantations. A small percentage of trees are harvested from existing forests. In British Columbia, about 900,000 trees are produced annually, and most of those come from native stands of pine and fir.

Profitability
One appeal of Christmas tree farms to growers is that it can be a profitable way to use low quality farmland, though this trend is changing within the industry. Christmas tree farms can turn a profit in as little as six years, and though some overhead in equipment and labor does exist Christmas tree production requires only small amounts of up-front capital. Each tree can cost land owners $5–10 from the time its planted as a seedling until it is harvested as a mature Christmas tree; that cost includes land costs, and costs accumulated through the growing process. In the early 21st century, Christmas tree farmers typically got annual returns of between $600–1,000 per acre of trees planted.

Christmas tree farming has initial costs associated with establishing the farm. Land, if unowned, must be purchased, as does equipment. Crop failures are also not uncommon which can negate years of work. Besides land, and pests, diseases and bad weather tree farmers must contend with costs associated with tractors and other equipment for planting, harvest and cultivation. Fences, storage buildings, worker protection and pesticide regulations also add to the expenses of Christmas tree farms.

Legal issues and status
The legal status and classification of Christmas tree farms, farm workers, and their resultant product varies by jurisdiction, as well as by purpose. In the U.S. state of Washington specific classifications exist for the purpose of state workers' compensation insurance. In Washington, Christmas tree farms are classified under one of two designations, "Farms," or "Nurseries."

The status of Christmas tree farms as actual, by definition, farms, and their products thus agricultural in nature, has evolved in the various government agencies responsible for such categorization. In both Canada, and the United States the governments take a regular Census of Agriculture, reporting in these censuses relies on the classifications. Beginning in 1996, the Canadian government included Christmas tree farms in its Census of Agriculture concerning the issue of net farm income and farm cash receipts. The changes also included the addition of egg hatcheries to the census. The results were marginal with net cash farm income rising just 0.1 percent.

In the United States the definition of "farm" has not changed since the 1974 Census of Agriculture. Despite this, there were minor differences in definition between government agencies. The U.S. Census Bureau, responsible for the Agriculture Census until 1997, excluded Christmas tree farms as farms from its reports. When the Census of Agriculture authority was shifted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1997 the differences in definition were resolved and the Census of Agriculture included Christmas tree farms. The change in status, much like in Canada, had only marginal impact on overall production as over half of the 14,000 additional farms surveyed collected less than $10,000.

For the purpose of ensuring correct matches when collecting compensation data, the U.S. Department of Labor developed the Occupational Classification System and maintains a manual which lists 21,000 industries and 30,000 occupational fields. The system classifies Christmas tree farm employees into three different job titles, Christmas tree farm worker, Christmas tree farmer, and Christmas tree grader. The farmer job title is considered supervisory, and describe by the Labor Department as forestry and logging work. The remaining job titles related to Christmas tree farms are classified as "forestry workers, except logging". Included in this classification are individual jobs involved in "maintaining woodlots, forest stands, and harvesting forest products such as sap, Christmas trees, and decorative greens, for further processing or sale."

Environmental effect
Christmas tree farms effect the surrounding environment in different ways, and different voices emphasize different effects. In the United States, the National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA) touts the environmental benefits of live Christmas trees, especially over the competing artificial alternative. The NCTA stated that every acre of Christmas trees in production produced the daily oxygen requirement for 18 people; with 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) in production in the U.S. alone that would amount to oxygen for 9 million people per day. The NCTA also stated that the farms help to stabilize the soil, protect water supplies and provide wildlife habitat. In addition, the industry points to the reduction of carbon dioxide through Christmas tree farming.

A 1998 report from the Michigan State University Agricultural Experiment Station predicted increasing environmental concerns about tree production and use as one possible reason people may favor artificial trees in the future. The report cited the use of fertilizers and pesticides, and increasing concerns regarding tree disposal as the chief elements in its prediction. The report also encouraged Christmas tree farmers to be more aggressive in presenting the public with the positive benefits of Christmas tree farms, with an emphasis on the positive contributions to water quality, wildlife habitat, soil stabilization, oxygen production and carbon dioxide absorption.

The BBC's "Gardening" website called buying Christmas trees directly from the farm, "the most environmentally friendly way of getting a tree". Other positive environmental attributes have been given live Christmas trees as well. Researchers at the University of Nebraska included the reuse of natural Christmas trees as mulch and, in larger quantities, piled up as soil erosion barriers, among the benefits of live tree use. Other positive reuses included fish habitat in private ponds and backyard bird feeders. In 2002 overgrown Christmas trees were used in a project to restore a 1,200 foot long section of severely eroded riverbank along the Connecticut River at the Birch Meadow Farm in Fairlee, Vermont. As part of the project, overgrown, 20–40 foot Christmas trees were used to help create a revetment at the site in order to deflect the river current away from the restoration work site. The trees were placed in the river, with their tips pointed downstream, protected by a small rock tie back and cabled into the riverbank. After the trees were in place various plants were rooted among their branches.

Critics of tree farms have raised the concerns highlighted in the 1998 report, as well as other issues, such as the effect on biodiversity large-scale tree farming operations have. Pesticide use on Christmas tree farms is one of the main concerns of environmentalists. Fir trees are vulnerable to a wide array of pests and diseases which requires the use of pesticides and other chemicals including the widely used herbicide glyphosate (Roundup). Glysophate is commonly used in Christmas tree production in the U.S. state of North Carolina where studies have found traces of agricultural chemicals in homes and urine samples taken from tree industry workers. Over the lifetime of the average Christmas tree it takes about .5 ounces pesticide to reach maturity.

Cultural significance
In the United States, visits to Christmas tree farms have become a Christmas holiday tradition for people. Christmas tree farms have embraced this trend; at one Minnesota tree farm it has become tradition for customers to pose for snapshots with their trees, when they return in subsequent years they can check the "wall of memories" for their photo. Other tree farms have served the same families for multiple generations, becoming a part of each group's holiday traditions. In 2006, New York state Agriculture Commissioner Patrick H. Brennan, supported the virtues of purchasing Christmas trees from local Christmas tree farms. In a statement released to support New York Christmas tree growers he stated, "It is a tradition in my family to visit our local tree farm and harvest our family’s Christmas tree. It is a wonderful event for the whole family and if you don’t already do so, I encourage you to share this tradition with your family." –NY Agriculture Commissioner Patrick H. Brennan, 2006

Some tree farms offer more than just a chance to cut down a live Christmas tree. Outdoor and holiday themed activities are not uncommon and include wagon rides, offering hot cocoa or cider, Santa Claus visits and holiday crafts. Many tree farms actively encourage schools to sponsor field trips to the farms. One grower in Kansas contended that usual worries for businesses, such as a tight economy, do not effect Christmas tree farms. The grower thought that obtaining a tree from a Christmas tree farm was something that almost nothing could stop; an activity that transcended the economy and the weather.