By: Koyuki Hayashi
On the eve of National Christmas Tree Day, tree producers and sellers are advising consumers not to wait until the last minute to buy a tree. The first and second weekend of December mark the busiest days for tree shoppers, said Fred Somerville, president of the Canadian Christmas Trees Association, on Friday.
According to Somerville, Canada is currently experiencing a supply shortage of Christmas trees. Strong demand from the United States and the impact of large numbers of tree farms closing a decade ago are hitting consumers, many of whom are looking for a real Christmas tree in their home this year.
Somerville said the supply shortage of Christmas trees is not a unique situation to one specific region in Canada. “It’s right across Canada and right across the States as well. There’s a continental shortage of trees right now,” he said.
One of the reasons Canada is experiencing supply shortages is that Canadian tree growers would rather sell to Americans, Somerville said.
“Canadian growers, mainly in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, will be selling into the States to get the higher U.S. dollars,” he said.
Mark Saunders, owner of Saunders Farm near Richmond, said he is seeing a convergence of surging demand for Christmas trees, a shortage of tree supplies and a strong market growth for real trees in the wake of the pandemic.
Being under quarantine, Saunders said, made more people desire a living, breathing tree in their living rooms.
“A lot of farmers in the [Ottawa] region sold out by weekend two or three of last year,” he said. “It takes 11 or 12 years to grow a Christmas tree, so you can’t just make more trees.”
Saunders also said that despite higher inflation that has pushed up the price of trees, he doesn’t think it will stop people from buying real ones. “For an item that you buy one of, once a year, I think people are finding ways to cut back in other areas or get a slightly smaller tree,” Saunders said.
“A natural wreath is another way to celebrate the season to decorate your house,” said Mark Saunders who sells Christmas trees and runs Christmas events at the Saunders Farm. (Submitted by Mark Saunders)
He added his clientele this year isn’t limited to just families and young couples purchasing Christmas trees, but included film companies as well.
“We’ve had some filming here and there’s a number of other Christmas tree farms that get movies filmed which are generally in the summertime,” said Saunders. Ottawa has become a hot spot for Christmas movie filming, with 16 holiday films shot across the Ottawa-region in 2022.
“That is certainly a big market and it’s growing in our region which is very exciting. It’s another revenue stream for [tree farmers]. There’s a lot of growth in that business,” Saunders said.
Dan Barnabe, co-owner of Rick & Dan’s By-Ward Market Christmas Trees, has also seen a rise in demand for real trees and worries about supplies running low earlier than anticipated.
Barnabe has been selling Christmas trees in ByWard Market for 35 years and said that in the last two weeks, he’s already had over one hundred people purchase trees from his business.
“Last year, we sold out on December 17th and so a lot of clients who didn’t have trees last year came early [this year] to make sure they have a tree,” Barnabe said.
But if the smell and feel of a real tree isn’t enough, according to Somerville, it is also preferable to artificial trees for environmental reasons. “Real trees are renewable, they’re recyclable and they’re 100 per cent biodegradable,” he said.
“Whereas an artificial tree, once you’ve used it for three or four years, you’ll throw it in a landfill and it will sit in a landfill for basically forever.”
