A Newburgh grower laments a media blitz that stunted Christmas tree promotions
Photo/Jason P. Smith
Jim Corliss, owner of Piper Mountain Christmas Tree Farm in Newburgh and president of the Maine Christmas Tree Association
In nearly 35 years in the Christmas tree business, tree farmer Jim Corliss has witnessed a lot of change. Most notable has been a steady national decline in sales of live trees — the root cause of which, he says, lies squarely at the foot of artificial-tree producers, whose sales more than doubled from 2003 to 2007.
In addition to operating Piper Mountain Christmas Tree Farm in Newburgh, Corliss is also president of the Maine Christmas Tree Association and former president of the National Christmas Tree Association. He has long advocated for an industry marketing program (similar to the National Dairy Council's “Got Milk?” initiative) to combat live trees' eroding market share.
Earlier this year, it appeared that his wish had come true. In early November, three years of hard work by the Christmas tree industry culminated in a promotion program. To fund it, the initiative called for a 15-cents-per-tree mandatory assessment on farmers who sell more than 500 trees. The program would have been overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
And therein lay the problem. When the USDA published its final ruling in the Federal Register to establish the Christmas tree program, a blogger labeled the assessment a “Christmas tree tax” — a misperception that stuck, thanks to widespread media coverage. The resulting backlash led the USDA to delay the assessment.
Mainebiz spoke to Corliss recently about the Christmas tree industry. An edited transcript follows.
How long have you been in the Christmas tree business?
One spring day in 1970, I was walking through my woods when I chanced to bend over and pull a dozen or two balsam fir seedlings. I took them out in the field and spread them out in a row, and I said, “There. Someday I'll have a few Christmas trees to sell or give to my friends and neighbors.” It all grew from those few seedlings. … On occasion, when this place is packed with hundreds of people and cars are gridlocked, somebody in my family will say, “Well, Dad, you sure have a lot of friends and neighbors.”
Why do you support the promotion program?
This is something that farmers want. During the USDA's comment period last winter, of the people who did comment, it was favored more than three to one.
Why do you think it was derailed?
First was the timing. If it had been in March, it wouldn't have gotten any attention. Second is that people on both sides of the political aisle sometimes wield far more influence than their intelligence would warrant. This guy at the Heritage Foundation represented it as an Obama tax on Christmas trees … it's pretty obvious that he didn't [understand the program] before he wrote his screed. Then [Rush] Limbaugh got a hold of it ...
Do you think it will be back?
It's the same program that so many other commodities have. [I think] we will get it. Curt Schrader, a congressman from Oregon, sent a letter to the president, urging him to honor the wishes of the growers. What we're worried about is another representative who's introduced a joint resolution to prevent the USDA from going forward with the order. He now has 41 severely misinformed co-sponsors. They cannot possibly deny us this without canceling every other commodity program.
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