Canadians may be left without Christmas trees
There have been floods and droughts in the area in recent years. Weather conditions have greatly affected the cultivation of 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.
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