News Articles

December 2004

Christmas tree growers brighten holidays of families with loved ones fighting in Iraq reports OAN Online (Oregon Assn. of Nurseries, Dec. ’04). A dozen Oregon Christmas tree growers joined together to provide Christmas trees for families of the First Brigade, First Cavalry Division Unit based at Fort Hood, TX. The division has suffered many casualties in the war in Iraq. The growers, supported by a half dozen allied industries, shipped 1,300 five- to six-foot Douglas fir Christmas trees to the Texas military base. “This is the second year of ‘Operation Thank You’ Which was an overwhelming hit a year ago when 1,000 trees were delivered to the families of a different group of military personnel at Fort Hood.” Delivery of the trees, tree stands for all trees, and driving the trees to Fort Hood were all donated by businesses and individuals. Read the complete story at http://www.oan.org/media/christmas04.html.

2005 CHEMSWEEP Counties Announced (Country Focus, PA Farm Bureau, Dec. ’04). CHEMSWEEP “provides agribusinesses and commercial enterprises as well as citizens with a means to dispose of properly canceled, suspended or unwanted pesticide products. 2005 CHEMSWEEP counties are: Allegheny, Beaver, Cambria, Chester, Clearfield, Columbia, Erie, Fulton, Huntingdon, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Luzerne, Montour, Northumberland, Warren, Washington, and York. Growers of any agricultural commodity, including mushroom growers, nurseries, greenhouses, Christmas tree growers and farmers of all types are eligible to participate. Pesticide certification is not required.” More information is available at Penn State University’s pesticide education website http://www.pested.psu.edu/pdaprog/chemsweep/.

O Christmas Tree! is a bibliography of children’s books appearing on the Wisconsin Christmas Tree Association web-site. Chris Liska Carger, Ph.D., a faculty member in the Literacy Dept. of Northern Illinois University, describes and reviews 25 children’s books. The article notes, “For children whose background experiences do not include Christmas trees, some of the following books will help them to understand the tradition. For those well acquainted with Christmas trees, other books listed will deepen their understanding of the diverse world of private memories associated with these special trees. Some of the books describe Christmas tree growing in a way that will encourage appreciation of the benefits surrounding this crop.” Read the complete article at http://www.christmastrees-wi.org/teacher.html.

VA Christmas Trees may go south of the border (Mid-Atlantic Grower, Dec. ’04). The Virginia Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services recently arranged for a group of Mexican Christmas tree buyers to visit tree farms in Virginia and North Carolina. “ . . . the buyers import hundreds of thousands of Christmas trees from the United State each year. They have been buying Fraser firs from Oregon. . . .” The mountains of southwest Virginia and western North Carolina are “nationally known for the quality of Fraser firs. . . .”

Why Do We Have Poinsettias? asks the online Green Mountain Gardener (Univ. of Vermont, Dec. ’04). “The first of three people responsible for the poinsettia’s popularity was Joel Roberts Poinsett, Ambassador to Mexico from 1825 to 1829. As a side note, it is he who later founded what we know today as the Smithsonian Institution. Mr. Poinsett was also a keen botanist, and sent some of these plants in 1828 to his own greenhouses on his Greenville, SC plantation. From there he propagated the plants, sending them to friends and relatives.” Read the complete article at http://pss.uvm.edu/ppp/articles/pointhist.html.

Preserving your wealth means accounting for everything (The Vegetable Growers News, Dec. ’04) offers ten strategies for preserving your wealth. Briefly, the strategies are: prepare a will; use your estate tax exclusion; title assets to avoid probate; monitor retirement plan assets; gift away what you don’t need; keep enough assets liquid to satisfy estate taxes; hold life insurance in trust; know what you have and where you have it; choose executors and trustees wisely; and, meet with your financial consultant.”

IRS Raises Rates for Business Mileage Deductions (Lawn and Landscape online, Dec. 28, ’04). “Beginning Jan. 1, 2005, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (including vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be: 40.5 cents a mile for all business miles driven, up from 37.5 cents a mile in 2004; 15 cents a mile when computing deductible medical or moving expenses, up from 14 cents a mile in 2004; and 14 cents a mile when giving services to a charitable organization.” Read the article at http://www.lawnandlandscape.com/News/news.asp?Id=2954.

The importance of staying in the black! is the “Business Management” feature in MNLA News (Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Assn, Dec. ’04). Author David Stougaard, AgStar Financial Services, says, “A practical tip is to manage your tax affairs to always try and report positive net earnings every year. The objective that some business owners have of managing their tax affairs to pay minimal Federal income taxes is usually not a good idea, and in fact can cost you money in the long run.” Stougaard points out that lenders look for “a steady stream of positive net earnings” which indicate the business “should have the ability to pay all their obligations without dipping into working capital. This reduces risk in the eyes of the lender. The lower the risk, the lower the interest rate charged.” He advises, “Work closely with your professional tax advisor to manage your net earnings to remain in the black every year, if at all possible.”

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