12-21 NWR Christmas tree shortage

This is your Northwest report for Wednesday, December 21 I'm David Sparks and Christmas trees are an important part of this time of the year. The Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Association's Executive Director: Bryan Ostlund: " We are primarily members in Washington and Oregon. Mostly grower members but we also have retailers, allied industry members, members in California, British Columbia, Idaho so it is a long-standing organization that is in the business of helping growers do what they do best and that is, growing Christmas trees." Well somebody in Idaho apparently didn't get the memo because there appears to be a Christmas tree shortage in Idaho and according to Mr. Ostlund the reason may reside in the fact that Christmas tree growers produced too many trees over the last 10 years and the Los Angeles Times says that oversupply brought low returns and led many growers to drop Christmas trees for other crops.

The Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Association's Executive Director: Bryan Ostlund: " We are primarily members in Washington and Oregon. Mostly grower members but we also have retailers, allied industry members, members in California, British Columbia, Idaho so it is a long-standing organization that is in the business of helping growers do what they do best and that is, growing Christmas trees.??Elsewhere, the Seattle Times is reporting that even though Hillary Clinton won the state's popular vote, three of 12 members of the Electoral College voted for former secretary of state Colin Powell and one voted for Faith Spotted Eagle, a Native American elder from South Dakota.

Finally, a reminder, if you are a farmer who will be traveling over the holidays, it's a good time to speak up about the food you produce.