Allison Floyd – Georgia Growing

This is the happy season for Georgia Christmas tree growers – the time that they get to visit with regular customers and watch children connect with the land that grows the pine or cedar that will become a big part of Christmas.

But farmers like Greg Smith will be nearly as busy in January as they are today.

“In January, I’ve got 800–900 stumps that have to be cut flush with the ground,” said Smith, who has trees on about 30 acres of his 60-acre farm just north of Athens. “In February and March, we have to prepare for planting. Then, in April, I start mowing, 35 to 40 hours a month. There’s something that has to be done pretty much year-round.”

By the time harvesting season rolls around again, he’s happy to put his adult children to work as they return home for Thanksgiving.

Georgia doesn’t have the number of farms or reputation for evergreens like North Carolina, which is second in the country for trees. But, the state did produce 50,600 trees for sale in 2007, an official census count that growers say is deceptively small since not all growers report their activities in the government’s twice-a-decade agriculture census.

The federal government estimates that farmers grow 17 million trees for Christmas consumption. The national tree growers association puts the number between 25 and 30 million.

 “It’s a real mix of people who do this: retired people, people who inherited land, some who used to work for the forestry commission,” said Linda Wilson, the president of the Georgia Christmas Tree Association.

While researchers are working to create a variety of fir that will grow in Georgia, they’ve not found much success.

And Georgians generally are looking to cut the species that are native to here, anyway, said Wilson.

“For the most part, people are very happy to cut those (pine, cypress and cedar) trees that grow in Georgia,” Wilson said. “It’s the people who grew up out of state, sometimes people who bought a tree from a lot each year, that expect a Christmas tree is always a fir.”

In the decade since Wilson and her husband began growing trees on their Hawkinsville farm, they’ve learned a lot and come to appreciate the interaction they get with their customers.

“It certainly is rewarding because we see some people coming year after year. I feel that the whole experience is more important than the tree,” she said. “Kids play and drink hot chocolate; it can be 75 degrees outside and they rush to get hot chocolate. It’s just part of the experience.”

To get to that day, though, the Wilsons had to learn about the business, which only six or seven dozen people in Georgia know.

Most of the important lessons – like how to trim a tree and organize the growing season – came from the organization of growers or through trial and error.

Smith learned a lot about farming trees from fellow tree-growers, as well, but found it’s a tough business.

“It is expensive to get into. You have to have a tractor; you have to have the time to take care of the farm,” he said.

But tree farming gives small land-owners a crop they can market and helps suburban areas by cooling the air and preventing erosion.

“We all recognize that Christmas trees are a crop that is good for the environment,” Wilson said.

According to the last agriculture census, Georgia Christmas tree production dropped by more than one-third in the first part of the decade, from 80,952 trees in 2002 to 50,607 in 2007.

To find a farm or learn more about the industry, visit the Georgia Christmas Tree Association website.