'Greener' Christmas tree biz growing in Sudbury

The Christmas tree farming industry in Sudbury is growingand some farmers are planning to raise trees that are extra-green.

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Shirley Brennan with the Christmas Tree Farmers of Ontario saidfour Sudbury-area farmers registered with her grouplast spring, andshe expects some willoperate chemical-free.

Brennan said it's been hard to meet the growing demand in Ontario for trees raised without chemicals.

"I would say less than five per cent of our farms are pesticide free," she said.

Peggy Baillie is the managing director of Eat Local Sudbury.

She said the decision to bring in a local seasonal product like Christmas trees was easy, especially given the ones from Soutars' Highland Farm in North Bay are chemical-free.

"Our customers really want to make sure that they have access to ecologically grown products, both for their consumption as well as in any way they're supporting local farms," said Baillie.

North Bay farmer Donna Soutar-Bilan saidshe started farming without chemicals years before her father died in his sixties of cancer a disease she feels may have been triggered by pesticides.

"Dad and I had a few 'head-ons',[him] telling me, 'It's not practical, you can't do it that way,'" she said.

"After 15years of growing without [pesticides], before he passed, he said, 'Do it.'"

As for demand for chemical-free trees, Baillie saidEat Local Sudbury staff are making a couple of trips a week to North Bay to replenish stock.

But if you're looking for Sudbury grown options this season, Brennan said pesticide-free tree farms are just getting started.

"They've either planted seedlings, or they're planting seedlings in the spring, so in the next six to eight years, you will have four new Christmas tree farms."