Canadians may be left without Christmas trees

"Holiday trees" take 8 to 12 years to reach the size most people are looking for. Canadians love Christmas and try to honour tradition as much as possible, so there are always plenty of people wanting to buy a Christmas tree for the holiday.

Young seedlings are particularly susceptible to climate change. For example, British Columbia has experienced prolonged drought and intense heat. Sufficiently mature seedlings can survive but lose their needles and turn brown. At the same time, young seedlings have shallow root systems, and floods and excessive moisture increase the risk of root disease.

Because of this, there is a slight shortage of Christmas tree farms. Foresters from southwestern Ontario and Toronto lost about 40% of their crop due to insufficient rainfall from May to August 2022.

Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia lead the nation when it comes to growing Christmas trees. But farmers in these provinces also struggle with the effects of increasingly extreme weather.

Climate change also provokes pest activity, which affects trees already weakened by the drought. According to Statistics Canada, the total area of Christmas tree farms decreased by almost 20,000 acres between 2011 and 2021.

Reasons for the decline of Christmas tree farms:

• the average age of a tree farmer is between 65 and 85 years old. They are retiring, but younger generations are not coming into the sector;
• the high cost of land and competition with crops that generate income faster than holiday trees;
• weather conditions require the search for new and more efficient ways of cultivation.

Of course, it is always possible to buy an artificial Christmas tree and create a festive mood.