Uncertainty looms for future of Metro Vancouver Christmas tree industry
Posted December 6, 2022 1:01 pm.
Last Updated December 6, 2022 1:02 pm.
As British Columbians embark on the hunt for the perfect real Christmas tree, we’re hearing there’s some uncertainty looming when it comes to the future.
Tore Jacobsen, vice president of the BC Christmas Tree Association, tells CityNews stock around the province is a little thin this year.
Some of that is due to last year’s flooding and heat dome, which damaged much of the trees that would have been harvested for this coming holiday season.
“It’s kind of the immediate, top-of-mind item that comes to everyone’s attention because it’s so fresh,” Jacobsen said.
However, there are also other factors at play. Jacobsen says there are also fewer farms around the region.
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“Many of my colleagues in the association, they have the farm but when they reach sort of the end of the line, as far as being able to get up in the morning to get going at it, there isn’t necessarily another generation to pass it on to,” he explained.
“Just with the cost of real estate, I can tell you that it’s hard to convince someone to hold a property and grow trees when you present them with the number of that piece of land to build houses. So all of that plays a factor, for sure.”
Despite this uncertainty, Jacobsen says there are still trees out there for those who want to stick with a natural option versus an artificial one for the holidays.
He admits he isn’t necessarily “worried in the long-term,” adding the current shortage isn’t something the industry is experiencing for the first time.
“That has happened before and this is where we rely on farms, say, from back east or in the United States and vice versa — trees moving all over the place. So I think the industry will continue to grow, just not in leaps and bounds in that sense,” he said.
FILE – Live Christmas trees sit in a snow-covered lot before they are cut in South Surrey. (Courtesy Facebook/Red Truck Trees)
Meanwhile, since the BC Christmas Tree Association amalgamated into one group this past summer, Jacobsen notes about a dozen new farms have joined into the membership.
“That’s not to say that those farms didn’t exist prior to the summer but I think now, there’s more of an appetite for that joining together for the industry and learning from each other, mentoring from each other, and increase that profile,” he said.
Asked if he’s worried artificial trees will eventually run local growers out of business, Jacobsen says he believes there will always be demand for the real deal.
“Any of us that have ever grown up with a real tree in the house over Christmas, there’s something about that look and that smell that an artificial tree just can’t replace,” he explained. “I don’t worry about it and it’s not as though the artificial tree is going anywhere, but with that said, the live tree market hasn’t gone anywhere either.”
