Christmas Tree Checkoff

It won't be long now until it is time to choose your Christmas tree and put it up. Betty Malone with Sunrise Tree Farm near Philomath, Oregon says they have been very busy getting ready for the holiday season.

MALONE: It's a job for us year-round but right now what we're working on is we're out tagging trees making sure that we have the right sizes, the right grades, the right species for all the different customers we sell to. We're also getting ready for the chose and cut. Even though we're primarily wholesalers we do open the farm up for people to come cut their own.

Malone says as an industry they have been working to get a checkoff program started.

MALONE: Our industry looked at doing this about 25 years ago and decided to stick with voluntary programs. But as every industry that's involved in a federal checkoff has found the voluntary programs don't work well and checkoffs are created so that it's sustainable and it's equitable for everybody in the industry that's going to benefit.

Checkoff programs have worked extremely well for other industries like the beef industry.

MALONE: One of the reasons why is their tough and they should be tough. It's a serous thing we're asking to do but the oversight is there. And the monies collected will be spent by a board of growers. They represent all parts of the industry and it's prorated so that the major producing areas have more votes on the board.

That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.