It’s only November, but you may be running out of time if you were hoping to get a tree for the holidays as a widespread shortage hits the Lower Mainland.
Ben Degroot, the operations manager at Evergrow Christmas Trees, says they have enough supply currently, but he expects the business to sell out of Christmas trees before December. “The supply is down roughly 30 per cent across the area,” he said.
He adds things are so tight that he’s hearing some people are shipping in Fraser Firs from Ontario, Quebec, and even Oregon.
“It seems we aren’t able to fulfill our demand locally, which is too bad,” Degroot said.
Degroot says the ongoing climate crisis — hotter summers and longer droughts — is complicating things.
“Because of the heat dome in 2021, there were a lot of Christmas trees that were damaged and a lot of Christmas trees that didn’t quite grow. The effect of that is less supply two years down the road and going forward,” he explained.
Christmas trees typically take seven to 10 years to grow and facing an increasingly challenging climate over that time, it’s unclear if or when B.C. will ever recover its supply.
“Their preferred growing conditions would be moist soil conditions throughout the entire summer, a little cooler summers as well, so as our summers are getting warmer and warmer and drier and drier, we’re seeing the trees not grow quite as much.”
Degroot says there are not enough Christmas tree farms in the Lower Mainland. “It’s a tough business to run. A lot of people are aging out of it.”
That sentiment is echoed by Richard Davies, the owner of Oh Christmas Tree Farm in Langley. He says a lot of farmers turned away from growing Christmas trees following the 2008 financial meltdown and fewer people in the next generation haven’t picked up the trade.
“Generationally, fewer farmers are taking up the industry. There are more people and less trees being grown, so there is a shortage in supply. It is a lot of work to grow a tree and it’s a long process — the younger people don’t want to take over the farm. I think farming, in general, is a difficult proposition.”
Davies, like Degroot, is worried about what climate change will do to the future of the industry. “This is a product that takes a long time, so it goes through cycles. The climate over the last several years in B.C., we’ve noticed the summers are longer and it’s been a bit of a struggle to keep the little trees healthy because of the intense heat and not enough rain.”
Davies had planned to open this weekend but says they’re open for business now in hopes of extending the season. “Get out there and get your tree. Take care of it and enjoy the season.”
Droughts and hotter summers are expected to be a constant in B.C.’s future summers due to the human-caused climate crisis.
source:CityNews photo:Unsplash
