Christmas tree cultivation
Christmas tree cultivation is an agricultural, forestry, and horticultural occupation which involves growing pine, spruce, and fir trees specifically for use as Christmas trees.
"Christmas tree farm" redirects here. For the Taylor Swift song, see Christmas Tree Farm.
The first Christmas tree farm was established in 1901, but most consumers continued to obtain their trees from forests until the 1930s and 1940s. Christmas tree farming was once seen only as a viable alternative for low-quality farmland, but that perception has changed within the agriculture industry. For optimum yield and quality, land should be flat or gently rolling and relatively free of debris and undergrowth.
A wide variety of pine and fir species are grown as Christmas trees, although a handful of varieties stand out in popularity. In the United States, Douglas-fir, Scots pine and Fraser fir all sell well. Nordmann fir and Norway spruce sell well in the United Kingdom, the latter being popular throughout Europe. Like all conifers, Christmas trees are vulnerable to a range of pests.
The final stage of cultivation, harvesting, is carried out in a number of 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. Other farmers cultivate potted trees, with balled roots, which can be replanted after Christmas and used again the following year.
History[edit]
The practice of cultivating evergreens specifically to sell as Christmas trees dates back to 1901, when a 25,000-tree Norway spruce farm was sown near Trenton, New Jersey.[1] The commercial market for Christmas trees had started 50 years earlier when a farmer from the Catskill Mountains brought trees into New York City to sell.[2] Despite these pioneering efforts, most people still obtained wild-grown Christmas trees from forests into the 1930s and 1940s.[3] More trees were grown in plantations after World War II, and by the 1950s, farmers were shearing and pruning trees to meet customer demands. The Christmas tree market burgeoned through the 1960s and 1970s, but from the late 1980s onward, prices and the market for natural Christmas trees declined. In the early 21st century, nearly 98% of all natural (not artificial) Christmas trees sold worldwide were grown on tree farms.[4]
Environmental effect[edit]
In the United States, the National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA) promotes the environmental benefits of live Christmas trees over the competing artificial alternative.[47] The NCTA stated that every acre of Christmas trees in production produced the daily oxygen requirement for 18 people; with 500,000 acres (200,000 ha) in production in the U.S. alone, that amounts to oxygen for 9 million people per day.[47] The NCTA also stated that the farms help to stabilize the soil, protect water supplies and provide wildlife habitat.[47] In addition, the industry points to the reduction of carbon dioxide through Christmas tree farming.[48] An independent Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study, conducted by a firm of experts in sustainable development, states that a natural tree will generate 3.1 kg of greenhouse gases whereas the artificial tree will produce 8.1 kg per year.[49]
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.[50] Critics of tree farming have raised the concerns highlighted in the 1998 report, as well as other issues, such as the effect that large-scale tree farming operations have on biodiversity.[48] Pesticide use on Christmas tree farms is one of the main concerns of environmentalists;[48][51] 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.[48] Glyphosate 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 tree industry workers' urine samples.[48] The average Christmas tree receives roughly a half of an ounce (14 g) of pesticide over its lifetime.[51]
The BBC's "Gardening" website called buying Christmas trees directly from the farm, "the most environmentally friendly way of getting a tree".[18] 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.[52] Other positive reuses included fish habitat in private ponds and backyard bird feeders.[52]
Research[edit]
Since 2004, several researchers at Oregon State University's (OSU) College of Forestry have researched various aspects of Christmas tree cultivation. In the Department of Forest Resources, Rick Fletcher is researching Christmas tree genetics, fertilization and disease management, while Chad Landgren is concentrating his emphasis on Christmas tree genetics and disease management. Both men are doing their research in the Silviculture and Ecology Section of the department.[53] In OSU's Department of Forest Science, Mike Bondi is conducting ongoing research into Christmas tree fertilization, productivity and genetics, as well as natural and artificial regeneration systems.[54] During the mid-1990s, the trio's research was primarily focused on creating better Christmas tree seed stock, resulting in a higher percentage of quality mature trees, through genetic improvements.[55] Similar research has been conducted by the Agricultural Experiment Station at New Mexico State University.[56]
U.S. institutions in other Christmas tree producing locales have also undertaken their own research programs. North Carolina State University has several full-time staff dedicated to all aspects of tree production.[57] Specialties at N.C. State cross several academic departments and range from a Christmas tree genetics program to providing material support for growers in areas such as sustainable agriculture and pest management.[57]
The Christmas Tree Research Center in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia does research on Balsam firs for Canadian producers.[58]
Industry classification[edit]
Activities related to the cultivation of Christmas trees require cross-disciplinary (forestry, horticulture, and agriculture) skills and fall into different specialty categories. Under the terms of Title 29 of the United States Code, which defines federal regulations pertaining to the United States Department of Labor, Christmas tree planting, tending and cutting are specifically not "farming operations".[59] The U.S. Farm Service Agency (FSA) does not provide federal crop insurance for Christmas tree crops, however, there is an alternative program, through the FSA, which provides assistance for non-insured crops.[60] 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.[61]
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.[62] 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.[62] The results were marginal with net cash farm income rising just 0.1 percent.[62]
In the United Kingdom, Christmas trees do not fall into the category of enterprises included in farm profits.[63] Instead, Christmas tree farms are classified as "market gardens".[63] Market gardens are defined separately from farming and are nurseries or gardens used for the sale of produce other than hops.[63] However, in Northern Ireland, some Christmas trees are cultivated and harvested by the Forest Service.[64]