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Ronald Hoss, The Capital Press, October 4, 2002
LA CENTER, Wash.
Between 75 and 100 potential Yuletide foresters filled the commons area
of the high school in La Center to attend a day-long workshop on Christmas
trees Saturday, September 28.
It was an overflow crowd. Washington State University
Extension officials, the program's coordinator, arrived at the site with
55 pre-registered guests in mind. They found they had to set up tables
and chairs for late arrivals, delaying the start of activities for half
an hour.
Once under way, however, the day maintained a rapid
pace as a half dozen speakers took the crowd through tips and pitfalls
on the path to successful growing and marketing of Christmas trees, at
least those indigenous to the west side of the mountains in Washington
and Oregon.
Pre-publicity material outlined the day as being for
those farmers who have 5 to 20 acres of well drained soil they could lock
up for 5 to 8 years.
That was pretty much the crowd that seemed to be there.
As Jeff Largerquist, owner of 5 acres in Washougal, put it: "This
looks like something I could use to get some money for my daughter's college."
The day seemed to rotate back and forth between preparing
for the wholesale market and those who might be thinking of retail, either
on lots off their property, or selling on their land with the choose and
cut method.
An optimistic Power Point presentation by Charles Brun,
horticultural advisor for the Extension Service - who also acted as the
day's emcee - got things underway.
"Wholesale supply cannot meet demand," Brun
said. "For the last three years prices have been in-creasing. Where
will they be in 7 to 10 years?"
While zeroing in his remarks on the small grower, as
a matter of perspective he noted the giant Holiday Farms of Corvallis
on 6000 acres that cuts 1 million trees a/ year. He further explained
the size of the industry by pointing out that Washington state harvested
about 3.3 million trees in 2001 and Oregon about 8.3 million.
Back closer to reality, Brun talked of the acceptability
of true firs in the western markets. He stressed the lack of needed irrigation
as an asset to tree growing and an absence of foreign competition.
The latter point got a few heads nodding in the audience as it probably
touched some berry growers who have been under continued stress lately
from imports of Chile and other South American countries,
While Brun's kickoff was on a high positive note, the
day's following speakers offered upbeat, but cautionary glances, a good
balance, it seemed.
"If you go into Christmas trees, you're going to
find out about things you never knew existed," said local grower
Evelyn Davidson. "Even the matter of buying seedlings offers great
opportunities for mistakes." To keep out of trouble she encouraged
potential growers to join the Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Association
for networking, advice and resources.
During the rest of the morning session, the audience
heard from Julie Hoffman of Canby, Ore., the current president of PNWCTA,
who has become a specialist in the process of promotion; Steve Carlson
of United Agricultural Products with a discussion of the weed, pest and
disease aspects of tree growing; and Bill Jameson, from the Clark County
Assessor's office who outlined certain cans and cannots in the tax process
in Washington state.
If the day had a keynote address, it was the after lunch
off--the-cuff presentation by Gary Casella, a longtime Southern California
Christmas tree retailer.
"My family has been in the Christmas tree business
for 66 years," he said. "That's just one more year than I have
been alive."
Cassela told the gathering he has become very concerned
with the direction of the industry and fears for its existence. "About
30 percent of Christmas tree users are already using plastic trees,"
he said. "Why? Be-cause the price of real trees is too high and because
every year we are getting more and more junk, trees cut too early just
to meet the needs of the large retailers."
"At one of my lots last year we had 47 people who said they were
back buying their second tree of the year because all the needles on the
tree they had bought from a large chain retailer had fallen off."
"It's very hard for me to match the prices of Lowes,
Home Depot or Target," he said. "But I will not sell junk. And
I ask you not to either."
In the face of increased competition, he encouraged
growers to find niches than can help them cut costs. "One thing I
do is utilize local high schools." he said. "I make a deal to
use the football field to sell trees. For that I give the school a contribution
to its athletic fund. I can also get plenty of kids to work sales and
unload trucks."
He also encouraged exploiting the possibility of a second
tree in the house. "The table tree is a great sec-ond sale,"
he related.
As to dealing with buyers, the retailer encouraged growers
to get a good contract, get a deposit and tell the buyer exactly what
you are going to do. "And always remember, you cant make a fast buck
and run," he concluded. "Once you do that you'll never get the
business back!
The late afternoon was spent at Davidson's Highland
Farm where the group observed the practice of shearing and had a walking
tour of facilities with an opportunity to ask plenty of questions. Brun
said there were no plans to repeat the workshop elsewhere in the state
at this time.
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