The Ohio Christmas Tree Industry
Who Are We and Where Are We Going?

Special Circular 158-98

Summary

As noted in the introduction, Christmas tree production has been an attractive, profitable agroforestry enterprise in Ohio which has contributed substantiallly to individual incomes and the economy of the state. To be competitive and financially successful in current and future Christmas tree markets, however, producers must grow high-quality trees of desired species and market them aggressively and effectively. To do this they must understand the demographics of their industry and its current production and marketing trends. The last comprehensive survey of the Ohio Christmas tree industry was completed in 1981 (Brown, 1983).

The current survey suggests that some of the overall characteristics of Ohio's Christmas tree industry in the mid-90s are quite similar to those of the early 80s. Noteworthy among those characteristics of the industry that were similar along with their 1994 values in parenthesis include the total number of growers (552), total number of trees (9.4 million), average grower size (17,009), high concentration of trees in the eastern half (70 percent) and northeastern quarter (51 percent) of the state, high proportion of part-time growers (90 percent), the total number of trees marketed (377,000), and the predominance of retail sales methods (47 percent of the producers receive more than three-fourths of their Christmas tree revenue from retail compared to only nine percent who receive more than three-fourths from wholesale sales).

However, the current survey also suggests that the Ohio Christmas tree industry of the mid-90s differs from that of the early 80s in some ways that are very important in planning future management and marketing strategies. The more important of these include:

• A grower age structure suggesting substantial retirement in the next two decades, perhaps affording opportunities for new growers to become established or existing growers to expand their markets.

• A continuing decrease in the total number of trees planted each year which could result in a reduced number of Ohio-grown trees available for future harvest unless a greater proportion of trees planted is successfully harvested.

• A dramatic change in the tree species planted, with substantial and continual decreases in the numbers of Scotch pine and steady increases in the number of single-needle conifers including blue spruce, Douglas-fir, Fraser fir, and Canaan fir.

• A similar shift in the tree species harvested with the percentage of Scotch pine decreasing substantially; blue spruce, Fraser fir, and Canaan fir increasing substantially; and white pine, Douglas-fir, and "other species" remaining constant. These trends are consistent with the industry-wide perception that consumer demand has shifted and will continue to shift away from Scotch and other pines to the true firs and Douglas- fir.

• A relatively small but steadily increasing proportion of Christmas trees being dug rather than cut, rising from seven percent in 1989 to more than 13 percent by the middle of the 1990s.

The data and analyses of "the state of Ohio's Christmas tree industry" presented in this report should provide valuable guidance to individuals and the industry as a whole as they develop management and marketing strategies for the next decade, and to the Ohio Christmas Tree Association, Ohio State University Extension, and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center as they plan and support educational and research programs to serve the industry.