Snow covered Christmas tree,USA:

A Christmas tree farm is a type of tree farm where pine and fir trees are grown, purposely, for use as Christmas trees. Christmas tree farms can be found in many nations and across different continents. Some of the prominent producers of Christmas trees include the United States, Denmark, Canada and Great Britain. Natural Christmas trees do have their opponents, environmentalists cite concerns about chemical herbicide and pesticide use, as well as concerns about biodiversity, among the reasons for their opposition to Christmas tree farms. The industry presents itself as environmentally friendly.Christmas tree farming can be a profitable business venture but often involves hard work and a lot of investment capital to get off the ground. Christmas trees are also vulnerable to numerous deadly pests and infections, including gall adelgids and sudden oak death. The crop's dependence on such environmental issues makes it a risky venture; after years of hard work one natural event can wipe out an entire crop. In the United States, where 35–40 million Christmas trees are grown and harvested annually, the industry was worth $506 million in 2004.The first Christmas tree farm in the United States is believed to have began in 1901 when 25,000 Norway Spruce trees were planted by W. V. McGalliard in Mercer County, near Trenton, New Jersey.The trees were sold seven years later for US$1.00 each.Despite the early pioneers of the industry, by 1940 90 percent of all natural Christmas trees sold in the United States were still harvested from forests. The most popular species during that era, Balsam Fir, Douglas-fir, Black Spruce and White Spruce, were all readily available from forests.Following World War II more trees began to be planted in plantations. Other changes were taking place as well, in the late 1940s and early 1950s farmers began to sheer trees in respond to customer demands for denser trees.During the 1960s the market for Christmas trees in the United States began to change. Part-time growers declined, while some part-time growers ceased operations others expanded their operations and became full-time Christmas tree farmers. Expansion occurred in all major U.S. Christmas tree growing regions, Michigan, the Pacific Northwest and North Carolina.The number of plantings increased in the late 1970s and continued to do so into the 1980s.One species, Scots Pine was planted in numbers which far exceeded demand for the product. As the number of individual farmers increased better marketing strategies and promotion programs were developed.Helicopters became a fixture on large farms during the early 1980s as growers used them to move trees from the field to the shipping yard.

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