Do you own a piece of agricultural land that you want to put to good use?

Do you own a piece of agricultural land that you want to put to good use?

Do you own a piece of agricultural land that you want to put to good use? Perhaps you should consider using your acreage for growing Christmas trees. It’s a low-maintenance investment that will start yielding profits in about eight years.

So, how can you grow Christmas trees and make good profits out of selling the Christmas centerpieces? Here’s everything you need to know to get started.

The Business Opportunity

During winters, the biggest shopping goal of the people of the US and the UK is to get the best Christmas trees. In Europe, the demand has reached 50 million trees a year. People in the UK alone buy 8 million of them. The US, on the other hand, has a market for 8 million Christmas trees a year. The average price of Christmas trees can be around $78-$81 in America. On the other hand, in the UK, the cost can be anything between £20 and £80 ($25 and $100).

How Much Can You Make?

With such enormous demand for Christmas trees worldwide, you can earn significant profits from a Christmas tree business if you have enough land.

How will you estimate the number of trees you can grow in your land?

The calculation is simple. Every acre of land can grow 1500 trees. However, to get a reasonable profit, farmers prefer to plant around 200 trees per acre every year.

When can you sell them, and how much can you make?

Every acre of your Christmas tree business should bring you more than $9000 a year. However, most farms end up closing their year with a total profit of $1500-20000 from all the trees of the farm, as the demand of the area may not be too high.

Where Can You Sell Christmas Trees?

Once your trees are ready to be sold, you need to find the right platform to sell them. Thankfully, you have plenty of time to research your market. However, here are some interesting facts for you:

• Around 24% of the Christmas trees are sold to customers straight from the farm.
• About 68% of the customers go to retail outlets and seasonal lots.
• The remaining 8% depend on online portals for their Christmas tree shopping.

So, your primary target is the retail outlets. Find a supplier to sell your harvest in bulk. Remember that people will come to the farm looking for bulk purchase at low costs. Don’t ignore the online platforms to sell and market your trees. If you’re renting a lot to display the trees, pick parking lots of department stores and shopping plazas for that to attract Christmas shoppers.

Cost To Get Started

If you already own a piece of land, then the initial expense of investing in farmland will be eliminated. If you don’t, you can choose to purchase your acreage in rural areas where the land rate is cheaper. Alternatively, you can select sharecropping with a landowner.

You can hire a farmer to provide prepping services at the rate of $1000 for every 20 acres. The most important cost you’ll incur is the purchase of seedlings at around $0.35. You can expect to spend another $1000 more for farming equipment and around $12000 for machinery.

Land Required

An acre of land can accommodate 1500 trees. Christmas trees grow to a height of 5-7 feet in 8 years. So, you’ll need plenty of loading space, as well as access roads at an interval of 12-15 rows of trees. But, it’s advisable to plant around 200 trees in your land.

It is a good idea to use 1/8th of your land to plant and replant Christmas trees. That will help maintain the soil quality, give you plenty of space to move around, and reduce the chances of ending up with too many trees that might not be sold at all.

Growing Conditions

An essential part of setting up your Christmas tree business is to ensure the best conditions for the trees. Here’s how you can approach it:

First, get the soil of your farm tested. Make sure that it drains well and there’s no heavy clay. The test will also reveal the soil’s pH level. These properties help to figure out what kind of seedling will grow best in this soil.

Select a land that has a slope of 5%-20% to ensure that water doesn’t stand at the feet of the tree. Also, make sure that the trees get plenty of sunlight and air. To prepare the soil before planting the seedlings, remove all existing vegetation using a mower, pickaxe, shover, etc., to make it smooth.

Luckily, this tree won’t demand high maintenance. The only care you need to show it will be in the first year. After that, you just need to water it in the dry months. Pruning and shearing the Christmas tree when the needles reach a length of around 1 inch is needed every mid-summer.

It’s recommended that you cut the tree down in the late fall months. That is the best time for harvesting the tree because it will be full of moisture during this time of the year. So, the needles will look green for a longer time when it is finally put up during Christmas.

Conclusion:

Many families are now growing their own Christmas trees as a new family tradition. You can do that too – and take the idea to the next level by turning it into a family business. Now, who wouldn’t enjoy earning some big bucks while spreading the Christmas joy?