Too many trees and some are too tall! New challenges for Oregon's multi-million dollar Christmas tree business. Many trees that were planted eight years ago are running out of time. They're becoming too tall to sell and it's created a tough situation.
"We kicked the cows out of here," said 84 year old Dave Wheeler. "Put in Christmas trees and it's just to many."
Wheeler has operated his Oregon City U-cut tree farm for over 40 years. Eight years ago, they got caught in a tree planting frenzy with many other Oregon tree growers. Now, those trees are too large to sell so he's grinding most of them into wood chips. The surviving trees will become timber.
"We planted too many in the first place, but on the other hand, we had no conception of what might happen, said Wheeler.
What happened is Christmas trees became a $110,000,000 annual business in Oregon. Larger growers harvest and transport trees all over the world.
Joe Sharp owns Yule Trees one of the five top growers in the state. He says the current glut of trees is tough for everyone, but it should come as no surprise. "It's interesting if you go back to industry meetings in 2000 we talked about if there's going to be an oversupply it's going to come from this room of all of us growers," said Sharp .
Some of those growers are now actually burning trees that couldn't be sold to wholesalers. The economy has forced Sharp to lay off employees, but even so, he's cautiously optimistic about sales this year.
"No, we haven't had to cut and burn, however, we certainly grade harder and if something is questionable it doesn't go to market," said Sharp. "You better send your best stuff."
Wheeler is saving his best stuff for his u-cut customers.
The rest of his trees will likely become timber or add to an already massive pile of wood chips. This year Oregon growers are expected to sell 7.5 million Christmas trees.
However, five years from now that number is expected to shrink to five million trees because so many growers have stopped planting trees.
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