OK. I’ll bite genius. This is being promoted by the Christmas Tree industry. Wake the feck up man and smell the coffee.

Christmas Tree Promotion Now

The industry continues to await the USDA’s decision on a potential checkoff program. The proposed program was published November 8, 2010. The initial public comment period was scheduled to close on February 7th, 2011 and was subsequently extended to March 8th, 2011.

The majority of public comments submitted and 17 of 19 trade organizations that submitted comments support the order.

It is still possible for a program to be in place to collect funds on trees sold this season to be used to promote Christmas tree sales in 2012, but action is needed soon.

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A Christmas tree promotion, research and information order would allow producers and importers the structure to self-assess real Christmas trees to fund research and promotion similar to dairy farmers or cattle ranchers.

The Christmas tree industry is a mature industry in need of mature promotion.

Tree producers and importers work hard now more than ever to practice responsible farming, select quality trees and offer extended services, but in the last 20 years the number of farm grown Christmas trees in households have fallen by 21% while the number of households in the US has increased by 27% (from census data and Gallup, Wirthlin & Harris polling services).

Real trees tell a positive story about local farms, environmental stewardship and cultural tradition. And they need the fair and sustainable structure such an order provides to compete against factory built, outsourced, plastic trees, which are dramatically increasing in market share and landfills.

Voluntary marketing efforts have had success in the Christmas tree industry; however the challenge has always been the ability to sustain funding. A program that provides fair, consistent funding for promoting farm grown Christmas trees is needed so that all producers and importers can benefit.