11/17/08 Shipping Christmas

Shipping Christmas. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. Before you know it Christmas will be here and with it the annual Christmas tree. Oregon Christmas trees are beginning to make the long journey to markets around the world as the harvest and shipping season is underway. The prime export destination this year continues to be Mexico. Inspectors with the Oregon Department of Agriculture have already performed a lot of inspections and have written a lot of phytosanitary certificates that allow Christmas trees to be shipped into other markets: MC ANINCH: "This is a very busy time for us, particularly trees going to foreign destinations. We've already inspected trees going to some of the Pacific Rim countries and to Hawaii, inspected trees going to Guam, Puerto Rico, and especially Mexico. Gary McAninch of ODA's Nursery and Christmas Tree Program says about 13 percent of all harvested Oregon Christmas trees are sold to Mexico. Last year, some of those trees were rejected by Mexican officials who are concerned with two tiny insect pests- the Douglas fir twig weevil and needle midge. MC ANINCH: Growers that are shipping into Mexico have been paying more attention to the management for particularly those two insects and have been applying pesticides when it's required and necessary. They have also altered some of their cultural practices- their shearing times and how they shear, to ensure that the chances of those insects being in the needles or in the twigs when the trees are shipped out is minimized. ODA inspectors are also paying close attention to the pests. So far, several shipments of Oregon trees to Mexico have been problem free- a good sign for the nation's number one producer of Christmas trees. Mc Aninch says making sure Oregon Christmas trees are relatively free of pests and diseases is a critical responsibility of growers and ODA inspectors since so many trees are exported. MC ANINCH: Mexico is a very important market for Oregon Christmas tree growers. Last year, somewhere around 13 percent of the trees that were cut in Oregon went to Mexico. That's maybe 800-thousand trees. So it's quite a large market. And we have run into some difficulties the past two years, particularly last year with getting trees into Mexico and some of their phytosanitary regulations. Mc Aninch says the recent rain may be making things a little more difficult for Christmas tree harvesting in Oregon, but the product should be in great shape for a long export journey. MC ANINCH: It appears to me that it has been a pretty good growing season. We've got rain at the right time this year. The trees won't be water starved or desiccated when they are prepared for shipping. So they should ship very well and their should be pretty good needle retention this year. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.