Tree farmers gear

up for battle

with artificial market
By Scott Nicholson

The state's Christmas tree growers gathered at a trade show in Boone Friday and Saturday, sharing product news and plotting strategies to keep the business green.

North Carolina Christmas Tree Association director Linda Gragg said the main theme this year was how to compete with the artificial-tree industry, which she said was trying to ride the coattails of the natural variety.

She said artificial trees had been marketed as "Just cut" or "fresh," intending to mimic natural trees.

An artificial tree called Noble Vintage sells for $500, and a Just Cut Fraser Fir sells for $300. While real Christmas trees typically are used only one season, they sell at retail for about $41 on average, taking seven or eight years to grow to market height.

Fleetwood grower Cline Church, a board member of both the National Christmas Tree Association and the North Carolina Christmas Tree Association, said the main topics on farmers' minds was both the state of the economy and the competition with artificial trees.

"In the last three or four years, fake trees have stepped up their marketing," Church said. "We'll have to combat that even more."

Church said the environment had become central to the battle, with each side claiming it was best for the environment. Real-tree growers have nature and the renewable-resource claim on their side, while artificial-tree manufacturers say their trees lead to fewer pesticides and a longer-lasting product.

"We strongly believe we are the true environmental ones," Church said. "There are several carbon studies underway at universities to see how much carbon tree farms take out of the air and how much oxygen they put back."

Church said it was also an economic-development issue, with up to 95 percent of all artificial trees imported from China. "We're able to keep jobs here with an American product," Church said. "It's a renewable resource. This is American jobs we're talking about, even though we do use some migrant labor. It's still jobs at home."

Church also touted Christmas trees as a way to preserve the agricultural heritage of the mountains. "When you lose an acre of farmland to development, it's basically gone forever," Church said. "We certainly want to conserve the land for farming."

Amber Scott of Greenscape Tools, a new business located in Fleetwood, said the show was an opportunity to network "and put faces with names," hoping to build the business by being in the heart of the Christmas tree industry.

Church said a new, young generation of consumers was emerging, and they were more sensitive to environmental issues, thus making them important in the real-versus-fake battle for dollars and customers.

Church said those consumers could see real trees as a responsible choice and could make them a holiday tradition.

Gragg and Church both said the meetings were important to see new products and to plan strategies for working together.

"It's always good to have meetings so we can all set goals we want to work toward," Church said. "Here in North Carolina, we've made major steps in incorporating wildlife and habitat in the fields. With integrated pest management, we've reduced the amount of pesticides we use, and North Carolina is taking the lead in that."

He also noted that even though there was competition between regions and states, in the end, all tree growers were in the same boat. "When you raise that tide, all ships rise," he said.

The mission of the North Carolina Christmas Tree Association is to promote natural Christmas trees through marketing and education. It serves Christmas tree wholesalers, choose-and-cut Christmas tree farms, mail-order sales and more.

North Carolina has 1,600 growers producing an estimated 50 million Fraser fir Christmas trees. The state has more than 25,000 acres of tree farms. Fraser Fir trees represent more than 90 percent of all species grown in the state.

The North Carolina Christmas Tree Industry is ranked second in the nation in number of trees harvested, though the value of those trees is reported to be the nation's hiughest.

For more information about the North Carolina Christmas Tree Association, call (828) 262-5826 or visit www.ncchristmastrees.com.