January 21, 2013

Dear Christmas Tree Growers,

Over the past three years, our association has been very fortunate to have received three USDA Specialty Crop Competitive Grants totaling $87,635. Those funds have been expended to hire marketing consultants, to redesign our logo; create a library of professional stock photos; and design brochures, displays and posters. We have redesigned our website, expanded our presence at agritourism activities, trade shows, vendor fairs and other public venues. We are planning winter meetings to compare notes learned over the course of the recent selling season, further our professional education and gain access to speakers who are not readily available during our summer meetings. The Board of Directors believes the Association is on a very positive course in promoting our Virginia Christmas trees and ultimately increasing sales for all growers.

But, in order to sustain our successes and remain competitive through the grant process, we must be able to provide measurable outcomes. Accordingly, we need to gather statistics and be able to demonstrate to those who make our grants possible that the funding translates to positive outcomes. In summary, we are asking the membership to respond to an annual survey. The 2013 survey will establish the baseline. Secondly, we will us the survey as a means to solicit your feedback and recommendations.

Please complete the following survey and return it to Jeff by February 6, 2013 so that the results will be available for discussion at the winter meetings. Your response will be anonymous. Surveys many be returned by mail, email, fax or telephone.

VCTGA Survey, Christmas 2012

1.  On how many total acres are you producing Christmas trees? ______

2.  By type, how many trees do you have in production and how many did you sell during Christmas 2012.

Species / # In Production / # Sold Wholesale / # Sold Off-Farm Retail / # Sold Choose & Cut
Austrian Pine
Blue Ice Cypress
Blue Spruce
Canaan Fir
Caroline Sapphire Cypress
Concolor Fir
Douglas Fir
Fraser Fir
Leyland Cypress
Norway Spruce
Scotch Pine
Virginia Pine
White Pine
White Spruce
Other

3.  How many wreaths did you sell? ______

4.  Do you make your own wreaths or purchase them for resale? ______

5.  How many feet of roping did you sell? ______

6.  How much were your gross total sales? ______

7.  How many wholesale customers did you have? ______

8.  Of your wholesale customers, how many were civic organizations? ______

9.  How many off-farm retail customers did you have? ______

10.  How many choose & cut customers did you have? ______

11.  In general, how did your overall sales change in comparing Christmas 2011 and 2012?

12.  Did the Association’s media promotions and marketing efforts have any bearing on your sales?