Southwestern Ontarians looking for the perfect Christmas tree this year may need to adjust their expectations, industry officials and sellers say, as a combination of steady demand and low supply make for a pricier holiday staple.
For the second straight year, some Christmas tree sellers across the region are warning of a shortage of inventory and higher prices before the holiday crush.
“Normally, we sell trees until about the 21st or 22nd. But we’ll probably be done by the 15th because we don’t have enough trees,” said Tom Dunn of Dunn’s Tree Farm, a small family-run operation northeast of Tillsonburg.
“We have fields coming on, but they’re still three years away from what we need,” he said.
Christin Ebert and her family sell Christmas trees at Little Creek Tree Farm, a small operation near Thorndale. They ordered more than 350 trees from their supplier in southern Ontario and ended up with just 160.
“That’s all that they would give us because they divided up among the different stores, and so that was the best that we could get,” said Ebert, adding she expects to sell out this weekend.
Amid high inflation and rising costs for fertilizer and fuel, the farm has increased the price of trees by five to seven per cent, she said.
Fraser firs between four and six feet (1.2 and 1.8 meters) are priced at $50, while those 6½ to eight feet (1.8 to 2.4 meters) are $90. Three-foot (0.9 meters) potted white spruce trees are $75.
With many sellers running low on the most sought-after tree—the Fraser fir—tree buyers are encouraged to branch out this year.
“We’re asking people to step out of their comfort zone. If you’re used to getting eight-foot Fraser fir, you might have to go to Canaan fir. You might have to look outside your box and try something new,” said Shirley Brennan, executive director of Christmas Tree Farmers of Ontario and Canadian Christmas Trees Association.
Inflation, unpredictable weather, labor shortages and steady demand are to blame for the shrinking supply and rising costs of evergreens, she said.
The cost of Christmas trees in Canada has increased by 10 per cent this year, Brennan said.
“The price of transportation and diesel to run our equipment has skyrocketed. We’ve seen labor has gone up. Fertilizer went up 25 per cent this year.”
Evergreens grow for nearly a decade before they’re ready to be harvested, so slowed production is felt by growers years later, Brennan said.
Extreme weather brought on by climate change worsens the situation.
“Mother Nature usually is a silent partner in farming, and she hasn’t been so silent lately. In Southwestern Ontario, farms have reported a lack of rain this season,” which slows tree growth, Brennan said.
Ontario also has seen a decline in the number of Christmas tree farms, she said.
“From 2011 to 2021, we lost 6,600 acres that were designed for Christmas trees. That’s the equivalent to almost 10 million trees,” Brennan said, because many farmers are retiring with no one to take over their operation.
As supply diminishes, demand for Christmas trees has skyrocketed, especially during the pandemic. In Ontario, the industry has grown by $5 million during the last four years, from about $12.5 million in 2018 to more than $17 million, Brennan said.
Lucas Nugteren grows between 50,000 and 60,000 trees on his 70-acre (28 hectares) plot north of Ilderton. While the supply at his farm for cut-your-own spruce trees remains stable, he has fewer pre-cut trees available.
Like many, getting his hands on the sought-after Fraser fir trees has been the biggest challenge this year, Nugteren said.
“They are hard to find, and they only grow in certain areas of the farm. They take certain requirements to grow, and not everyone can grow them,” he said.
With around 150 Fraser firs left, Nugteren expects them to sell fast. Echoing Brennan, he encourages buyers to branch out and try something new.
“There’s a lot of options. You don’t have to have a Fraser. I think you could get a nice tree, like a spruce tree, and it’s going to be half the price,” he said.
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