Christmas tree production
In Australia, the industry is relatively new, and nations such as the United States, Germany and Canada are among world leaders in annual production.
Christmas tree farming is a relatively new agricultural pursuit in Australia with the industry only sprouting up within the early 21st century.
[2] Denmark is a major producer of live Christmas trees, about 90 percent are exported to other European nations, such as Great Britain, France, Germany and Austria.
[4] The leading European producers of natural Christmas trees are found in central and western Europe.
Ultimately the growing of Christmas trees that end up in the majority of homes across Europe have been produced by workers in conditions protected by European law.
[19] However, tree production still took place in Nuevo León, Veracruz, as well as the states of Mexico City, Puebla, Jalisco, and Guanajuato.
[19] Most artificial Christmas trees are made of 100% recycled plastics from used PVC packaging materials in China.
An estimated 20 percent of all Christmas trees sold in Poland are artificial, and many are made domestically by individual families.
Entire families take part in production and the trees are sold throughout Poland with some being exported to the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
[3] The shortage was a result of a hot summer and a cut in subsidies for growing Christmas trees in Denmark.
[5] The market for natural Christmas trees in the United States began to tumble when an oversupply during the late 1980s through the mid-1990s sent prices downward.
[19] One appeal of Christmas tree farms to growers is that it can be a profitable way to use low quality farmland, though this trend is changing within the industry.
[31] Besides land, and pests, diseases and bad weather tree farmers must contend with costs associated with tractors and other equipment for planting, harvest and cultivation.
[31] Fences, storage buildings, worker protection and pesticide regulations also add to the expenses of Christmas tree farms.
[32] The study was based on data obtained from the prices of Christmas trees in North Carolina during December 1997 and used a Hotelling-Faustmann model for its predictions.
The results showed, in general, that the change in prices reflected a competitive equilibrium in the capital market, thus support the Hotelling rule.
[32] A 1993 paper by George C. Davis and Michael K. Wohlgenant made what was, at the time, the only known estimated demand elasticities for the natural Christmas tree market.
[33] The estimates incorporated survey data from 558 households in Washington, D.C., northern Virginia, southern Maryland and Philadelphia about Christmas tree display preferences.
