'We’ll have enough, but we won’t have a lot extra': Christmas tree growers bracing for another busy season

Christmas tree growers are anticipating another busy holiday season as demand continues to outpace supply across Canada.

Tree farmers in Chatham-Kent, like Andy Watson, believe they should have enough to make it through to Christmas Eve, but admits the best trees go early in the season.

“The season is shaping up real well,” Watson said. “We started last weekend.”

Watson said the last weekend of November and first two weekends in December are typically the busiest, with a rising number of customers coming from outside Chatham-Kent.

“It's amazing the number of people that we're getting from Windsor and that way. I mean, our location you would think Chatham was our market but in reality we probably sell more trees going west than go to Chatham.”

Watson has been growing Christmas trees on his farm near Pain Court for 33 years and explained each tree takes about 10 years to grow.

“We have lots of trees early in the season. Our system is to plant one where there’s been one cut.” Watson added, “We’ll have enough, but we won’t have a lot extra.”

Elsewhere, prices have increased compared to last year.

“So far, the farms that have opened are saying you know it's a good season,” Shirley Brennan, executive director of the Canadian Christmas Trees Association, told CTV News Windsor on Friday.

“We are still seeing that demand for the trees and that less trees have been planted over the last 10 years, so that’s going to impact some things,” Brennan explained. “Having said that, we also know that farms dictate how many trees they have and from what I’m being told they are good for the season.”

Brennan said shortages elsewhere in Canada can be traced back to the 2008 financial crisis, when Christmas tree farms did not expand as much or closed altogether.

“We have seen through Stats Canada that 30 million less trees were planted in the last 10 years, which is startling for us. In Ontario, that's about 8,000 acres of Christmas trees that have folded up due to retirement or deaths.”

Brennan told CTV News Windsor the impacts of one bad season due to climate are also felt years later.

“That is the hard part about Christmas tree farming because we plan for 10 years and then we just have to roll with the punches of whether or not Mother Nature, who is our silent partner, if she cooperates with us,” she said.

Brennan noted inflation has pushed prices up about 10 per cent on average, with some wholesalers limiting their orders to ensure there’s enough trees to go around.

“It’s because the things on our farms have gone up,” Brennan said. “Fuel to run our equipment. Fertilizer itself went up 25 per cent this year so things we didn’t have control of are effecting it.”

Brennan also suggested the pandemic led to higher demand for Christmas trees because people were spending more time at home and with family, creating new traditions.

“It’s a very personal experience. So the reason I get a Christmas tree is totally different from the reason you might get one,” Brennan explained. “But in the end, it’s bringing families together. It’s getting outside. It’s enjoying it and creating those memories.”

Chatham-Kent Tourism has created a Christmas Tree Farm trail highlighting the four tree farms in the municipality.