Ferme Quinn: Farming DTC Christmas trees on the edges of the city

As you read this, Phil Quinn’s eponymous farm out in L’Île-Perrot is fresh out of spots for visitors to cut down their own Christmas trees, and they’re close to being sold out—if not sold out already.

“We’ve been way ahead of schedule at this time of year,” Quinn says about sales over the phone.

It seems basic—plant trees and they grow, right?—but it’s a type of ‘crop’ that, like anything else on a farm, requires a forward-looking perspective.

“You have to think 8, 10 years down the line,” Quinn says. “What’s the market going to look like, what do you want to expand into as a business and plant accordingly. By now, we’re planting for the next generation, thinking about how big we want the farm to be.”