Brad Clements, 82, has been growing Christmas trees near Milton, Ont., since the 1980s but is getting ready to pack it in.
“We’re looking at closing it up in the next year or so, if not sooner,” said Clements, owner of Clembrook Christmas Farm.
Clements and his wife aren’t passing the business on to a family member, and say the property likely won’t continue on as a Christmas tree farm.
He’s not alone.
One of the factors driving a protractedChristmas tree shortage is the aging population of tree farmers, says Shirley Brennan, executive director of the Canadian Christmas Trees Association.
In the last 10 years, Canada lost 1,017 Christmas tree farms and 19,165 acres of Christmas tree farmland, according to Statistics Canada.
Much of that loss has been due to farmers retiring or passing away, Brennan said.
“When I look at those numbers in those areas, I know that’s what’s happening because I know those tree farmers that are no longer operating,” said Brennan, who says the association’s membership is about 70 years old on average.
Climate change, economics behind Canadian Christmas tree shortage
2 years ago
Duration 2:02
Canadians may find Christmas trees in short supply this year after climate change and changing farm economics led to a smaller number being produced.
It’s a heightened example of a broader problem facing Canadian agriculture.
Census data shows farmers — both Christmas tree and otherwise — are aging at a faster clip than the overall population. Royal Bank of Canada economists warn the trend will likely worsen an existing agricultural skills shortage in the years ahead.
According to the latest available data from Statistics Canada, the average Christmas tree farmer is 59, while the average farmer is 56. The average person in Canada is 41.7.
“It’s not only for Christmas tree growers, it’s also for canola, soybean growers as well — it’s a trend we’re seeing across the economy,” said Mohamad Yaghi, agriculture and climate policy lead for RBC Economics, and lead author of a report from earlier this year about the demographic transition in agriculture.
Cost of doing business
Across the agriculture industry, cost has become a major barrier to entry for younger, would-be farmers, said Yaghi. He noted a tractor can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, to say nothing of the add-on equipment that’s often needed.
“Agricultural land has gone up significantly, the cost of technology has also gone up significantly, and when we look at the support mechanisms available to younger producers, they’re not very plentiful right now, unfortunately,” he said.
Christmas tree farmers also have to contend with a particularly long lag time between setting up their farm and earning their first profits. It can take between eight to 14 years for a tree to grow to maturity, which means a new farmer may not see a return on their investment for about a decade.
Gerald (left) and Erika (right) Bodnaruk outside at their Christmas tree farm near Medicine Hat, Alta. (Submitted by Erika Bodnaruk)
Erika Bodnaruk, 57, owns the Country Mouse Tree Farm near Medicine Hat, Alta., with her husband, Gerald. The couple started planting Christmas trees in 2008 and opened for business in 2017.
They plan to retire in their mid-60s but are making plans well ahead of that. Their two kids live too far away to inherit the business, and Bodnaruk said it will likely take time to find an interested buyer who can afford to take it over.
“If it’s not given to someone who is in the family, it needs to be an established business[person] already,” she said. “There’s so much out and not very much in for so many years — it’s not for the faint of heart.”
Farmers, skills wanted
An aging agricultural workforce could have implications not just for seasonal decor but for the economy more broadly.
Last year, the agriculture and agri-food sector generated $143.8 billion, or around seven per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP).
But the RBC Economics report says Canada already has one of the worst skills shortages among major food exporting countries, and predicts the situation will likely worsen with an estimated 40 per cent of farmers set to retire in the next decade.
Meanwhile, demand for food is expected to grow alongside the world’s population, and a recent declaration at COP28 has governments committing to reduce emissions from agriculture.
That means the sector will not only need new farmers, but new skills in order to grow more food with fewer emissions, according to the RBC report. And while Canadian admissions to agricultural schools are strong, the report noted they still fall short of what’s needed.
Christmas trees for sale at a Save-On-Foods grocery store in Surrey, B.C., on Nov. 23, 2023. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
Another dimension of the problem is that while students used to attend agricultural college intending to return to the family farm, a growing number now want to work in agriculture in a non-producer role, such as in supply chain management or agribusiness, according to Jay Steeves of Olds College of Agriculture and Technology.
“They still want to be a part of agriculture and they want to contribute to it, but potentially looking for different ways to be able to share their knowledge and their experience,” said Steeves, dean of the college’s Werklund School of Agriculture and Technology, which is located about 90 kilometres north of Calgary.
“It’s concerning because I think we still need a certain percentage of students that have the education to head back and still operate at the producer level.”
It’s a complicated problem to solve, he said, but part of the solution lies in offering more hands-on opportunities for students to give farming a try, such as through the college’s nearby smart farm.
“Some students come with no agriculture background and really want to jump into the field, and so we have that ability to expose them to production,” he said.
Christmas trees growing in Langley, B.C., at the Fernridge Christmas Tree Forest in December 2022. (Yasmin Gandham/CBC News)
‘It’s pretty charming’
As for Brennan, she has reason for optimism in the Christmas tree sector. There is a small but growing number of younger people out there who are picking up Christmas tree farming as part of a broader agri-tourism business, she said.
To make the finances work, these new farmers might also grow pumpkins in the fall or sunflowers in the summer to entice more year-round customers, especially during the decade it takes to get a new Christmas tree crop off the ground.
Brennan has also taken it upon herself to act as a one-woman PR machine, picking up the phone from anyone who calls interested in getting into the business.
Bodnaruk, the farmer near Medicine Hat, is also willing to make a pitch. While farming may not be for the faint of heart, she said it can also be plenty heart warming.
“I mean, who doesn’t want to own a Christmas tree farm? It’s pretty charming,” she said.
“Just seeing the smiles and the giggles and watching the kids run in the tree fields — it really brings back the whole spirit of Christmas.”
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
