Skip to content

Tree ‘farmers’ grow product despite hard-to-predict market

Tree huggers take note: Using a farm-grown Christmas tree is much better for the environment than buying the artificial variety.
conradsiewert
Conrad Siewert

Tree huggers take note: Using a farm-grown Christmas tree is much better for the environment than buying the artificial variety.

At least that’s the message being cultivated by Conrad and Sandy Siewert, who grow landscape and Christmas trees on their small farm at the headwaters of the North Raven River.

Formerly from Quesnel, B.C., the Siewerts and their three daughters moved to their little piece of paradise in the spring of 2001.

Their small farm, located in the Arbutus area southeast of Rocky Mountain House, provided them with the opportunity to pursue a venture they had first considered shortly after they were married, about 15 years earlier.

It didn’t take the Siewerts long to discover some of the obstacles facing people who hope to earn an income by growing trees.

Most obvious is that it takes a big cash outlay up front and then eight to 12 years of growth before the first crop is ready for sale, says Conrad.

He and Sandy have also found it difficult to anticipate demand.

Scotch pine was popular in 2003, when they planted their first crop of trees.

The trees were nowhere near ready for sale when consumer demand switched to balsam fir.

The Siewerts are now starting a new crop of balsam fir, hoping the variety is still in demand when they’re finally big enough to sell.

Mother Nature also likes to throw a few curves.

The Siewerts started their farm with two lots of 500 Scotch pine each, planted in 2003 and 2004 on a 17-acre field at the north side of their 31-acre farm.

Hungry deer ate almost all of them. Lesson learned, the Siewerts put up a tall fence to keep the deer away from their next batch of new trees.

It’s been a learning experience from the get go, says Conrad, who works in forestry, as does Sandy.

They’ve altered their program a bit over the years, adding landscape trees into the mix and setting up a sideline creating wreaths from the leaders off of balsam fir trees.

Rewards of their hobby go beyond the income it is now starting to generate, says Conrad.

He and Sandy enjoy the time they spend nurturing their crop, including the carefully timed pruning and shearing to create perfect shapes.

Understanding that all consumers are not alike is an important aspect in how the trees are managed.

Some people like a really dense tree, while others prefer a little more space between boughs to hang their ornaments, says Conrad.

He and Sandy were surprised when they first moved to the Rocky area to discover that Alberta’s Christmas tree industry is fairly small and, at the time, had no growers association. They joined the Saskatchewan Tree Growers Association, which recently changed its name to the Prairie Christmas Tree Growers Association to reflect the small number of Alberta farms that have since joined.

About 80 per cent of the 5.5 million Christmas trees harvested every year in Canada come from Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia, says Conrad, now serving his third term as a director of the Prairie Christmas Tree Growers.

While it may seem like a lot of trees are being cut down, Conrad cites research by the David Suzuki Foundation and a statement from the Children’s Health Environment Coalition, which both support use of locally-grown, live-cut Christmas trees instead of the artificial alternative.

The Suzuki Foundation states that locally-grown Christmas trees provide benefits to the environment, including carbon capture, production of oxygen and wildlife habitat. The Children’s Coalition says the artificial look-alikes may shed toxic fumes and dust into people’s homes.

Besides the potential introduction of toxins, the fake trees are made with petroleum-based products while live trees are fully recyclable, says the coalition.

Conrad says some people have told him that they prefer artificial trees because they don’t shed needles.

He suspects the problem stems from people purchasing wholesale trees that were cut and shipped weeks before the Christmas season. Locally grown trees are harvested later and will therefore not shed needles as readily, he says.

The Siewerts hope to see a reverse in the trend toward artificial Christmas trees, stating that imports of artificial trees to Canada are now worth almost $47 million a year.

By comparison, cash receipts to Canadian Christmas tree growers reached just under $60 million in 2009, down nearly nine per cent from the previous years.

bkossowan@www.reddeeradvocate.com

— copyright Red Deer Advocate