On a hot sunny August day, Christmas and Christmas trees are likely the furthest thing from your mind. But for an ever growing number of farmers in Saskatchewan, Christmas trees are top of mind all year long. Growing the perfect evergreen has become big business.
Irving Switzer is a Saskatchewan Christmas tree farmer. He says business has steadily grown. "I'm not sure of the numbers, but it has increased since we started out. I don't know that it would have doubled but maybe close to that."
There are about 4000 trees at the Switzer farm, located near Rokeby. Irving Switzer believes more Christmas tree operations are sprouting up in Saskatchewan because more people are choosing to go green and buy local.
"It's not just a matter of cutting trees. You know, for every tree that's harvested, there's probably another three or four that are planted. The trees will be in the field growing for 10 to 12 years," says Switzer.
The Switzers are relative newcomers to the Christmas tree growing game. In fact, they are still about three or four years away from putting their trees on the market. They say there appears to be a lot of room to grow when it comes to the local industry
"It's not a get-rich-quick setup, but if you've got patience and are willing to do the work I don't see why you couldn't make a go of it."
