The Christmas Tree Harvest

[Applause] So So folks were out in sunny scotland Aren’t we and this is one of the coolest Man On the planet and we were just told to Call you jimmy That’s right that’s my name but you’re Not really from scotland but you’re in Scotland and you’re a part of scotland At this stage jimmy Yes jeremy what is Happening on this farm because We were over earlier on in the year and We filmed a Local contractor at home wilson brothers And they had they told us that they come Out to scotland And basically do christmas trees this is Their tractor behind you But you’re not from scotland they’re not From scotland How have you all got together in Scotland Can you tell us a little bit about What’s going on please jimmy yeah We grow an international crop here all Europe Loves christmas trees when i started Many years ago We found out that scotland is one of the Best places in the world to grow Christmas trees You’ve got like cool summers and warm

Winters compared to the rest of europe And the trees Just get absolutely amazing over here so We’ve just started to plant christmas Trees over here like 20 years ago And once you planted them you’re Basically hooked then you also need to Harvest them And i think more than 10 years ago we Got in contact with the wilson brothers And david he was quite amazed by this Production because it’s a quiet time of Year for farmers So he bought two or three pelletizers And he came with a Full cavalry and he’s been harvesting Trees for us ever since And you were just saying to to me there When we were having a wee chat just Before we get you maked up that You love how the palletizers work and The way in which the The crop is cleaner yes but how exactly Does it work because obviously It starts at the front somehow and it Ends up at the back what is the process And what is the process to getting a Tree ready Well that’s a very international project As well We have a lot of crew so Just to grow the trees we have to visit The trees three four times a year we Prune them

We bought break to make them get the Right shape We treat them with fertilizer and stuff And we’ve got like polish crews we’ve Got lithuanian crews we’ve got Scottish crews we’ve got romanian Grooves And it’s the same in the harvest so We’ve got Polish and eastern european guys on Chainsaws Cutting the trees and they’re dragging The trees taking them to the tracks And once the trees are cut they get Dragged to the tracks in different Colors and grades And then david and his crew come in and And they make one great Per time so they they travel off the Tracks And they attack like the raid label and All the red labels they get knitted in This machine Get put in there gets on the conveyor Belt and up in the pallet box and There’s a guy in the pellet box who Basically packs the trees the machine Compresses The trees so that we can have a certain Amount of trees in it Yes and the compression is a key part of This Earlier when we hand loaded the trees Loose

We could maybe have 400 trees on the Lorry because we compress the trees we Have handy paddles that are easy to load And easy to handle for the customers We can have six seven eight hundred Trees maybe a thousand trees on the Lorry So it’s it’s quite handy and as you can See because there’s a There’s a lorry just loaded here and Ready for the off but You’re shipping trees from here not just Around scotland This is the bit that i think’s blowing My mind you’re shipping trees Around europe yes it is we have From scotland yes and this is because The trees are so beautiful over here We’ve got Two big french customers they just love The scottish trees They’re more compact they’ve got a Stronger needle And they’re just beautiful we don’t mind Thinking taking trees to france export Is good for this country and And the customers they pay well so It’s fine [Music] Uh [Music] One [Music] The machine that they’re using here to

Do the palletizing I think it’s not just an off-the-shelf Machine that’s something that’s been Developed and engineered yes It was uh it was a brilliant danish Forester who got sick and tired of Loose trees and he thought we have to be Able to do this better so More than 20 years ago he designed this Thing and We’ve got five six machines running here We’ve got a lot of them running in Denmark and poland as well and they just Last forever It’s really well built and he was a Genius There’s other manufacturers making Similar machines now but But this particular machine is called Net up it’s brilliant And it’s just make life so easy i Thought you called it a go-go machine we The crews they call it the go-go machine Because it’s like go go go go Well how intense is the harvest season Here as You know is it a short period of time is It is it a bit like You know at home when it comes to the Grass cotton season it’s all condensed Into a very short period of time and the Pressure’s really on From cotton to harvesting to loading to To getting it all away

Or can you spread it out over a period Of time with trees it’s highly intense We start around the 1st of november and We expect to be finished next week so That’s like Three and a half four weeks and we’ll be Cutting 130 140 000 trees that’s a lot Of lorry loads a lot of people to To cut them drag them pelletizers need To work All the time i know that some of our Colleagues they do night shifts as well With the machinery but we don’t like to Do that it’s dangerous to work at night And people get tired so we work from 7 morning to 7 evening they’ll make Between 10 and 20 pellets a day this farm is Really big trees so So they may be down for five six pellets A day but they’re huge Expensive trees so it’s it’s fine and How has 2020 which is going to go down in History books As a strange year for a lot of very Different reasons But how has the covert maintain Situation affected your business of Trees It has been a strange year uh during the Spring lockdown I couldn’t get over to see my lovely Trees over here

So further for the first time ever we Only started pruning and doing all the Service work for the trees in june And we managed to get the crews out and Do this and We managed to do it on time luckily Enough we had a nice and warm summer so The trees have been responding really Fine it’s been a good year for the Growing but then There was a lot of worries about where’s The market going to go can Can we get access to the garden centers Can the garden send us to Get a lounge to sell the trees three Weeks ago france closed completely down On the lockdown and We had a week where all our orders were Cancelled And luckily they they found out that They maybe the christmas tree is an Essential product so they opened for the Sale again But it has been stop and go and funnily Enough even though that the french they Closed down for a week they didn’t Change the delivery dates So it has been it has been a rush Because we suddenly lost a week the Corvette situation has Has been attacked by us very very Seriously we We work in separate crews They stay in separate houses we’ve

Erected like a village with the sleep Pots So we’ve got 20 guys living on the other Farm they don’t go away from the farm So we’ve created like six seven bubbles The crews never mix And we take really really good care not To do anything stupid we’ve got all the Ppe’s and whatever And it’s been working fine and we’re Actually enjoying this season because It’s more intense we’re safe in our Bubble here we don’t interfere with Other people And we’re having a laugh brilliant jimmy Thank you Very very much for taking time to show Us around Um just when it was mentioned to us back Home we were just like We need to see this and i have to say Now there was an element of ignorance On our part you know we just thought a Tree that looked like a christmas tree Get cut down and ended up in a shop But now we know you you have like a 10-year cycle to grow a good christmas Tree Yes or 12 or 12. [Laughter] Thank you very much i say for taking the Time and we’re hopefully we’re going to Go now And see the lads out there after work

From back home so yes Thank you okay you’re welcome