AURORA, Ore. – Joe Sharp has traveled the world but says he has never found a more perfect Christmas tree than in Oregon, the nation’s largest producer in a $791 million industry and a leader in the effort to revive the holiday market for fresh-cut trees.

Sharp, a former airline executive turned tree grower, has created a “designer tree” out of the noble fir, a fragrant and sturdy evergreen that only the climate and soil in Oregon can produce in abundance.

Sharp and his Yule Tree Farms are shipping noble firs across the country to test the demand for a higher-priced tree that is carefully managed from seedling to shipping, resulting in a lush, symmetric shape and a tree that resists drying.

He is betting that consumers will justify the extra cost in exchange for the guarantee of a classic appearance and durability, along with the reassurance his operation is friendly to the environment.

Tree farms turn idle acreage into productive farmland, protect against erosion, provide jobs and their products can be recycled and regenerated – unlike the petroleum-based plastic used to make artificial trees, Sharp said.

“It’s just part of the whole industry that has been developing to bring the farm experience back to urban Americans,” Sharp said.

So far, the reception to the Oregon noble firs has been positive in test markets, despite a $70 to $80 price tag in some areas.

“I don’t think we’ll have any problem selling them,” said Tom Anrico, a veteran buyer for Stew Leonard’s, an upscale supermarket chain based in Norwalk, Conn.

The designer tree is part of a larger marketing effort by the National Christmas Tree Association to renew consumer demand for fresh-cut trees.

“Our market has shifted on us and we just didn’t pay attention,” said Irwin Loiterstein, director of the association’s national marketing campaign.

He notes annual sales of fresh trees dropped from about 32 million in 2000 to 23.4 million in 2003, while the number of artificial trees displayed each year has grown from an estimated 50.6 million in 2000 to 62.9 million in 2003.

The shift shows that consumer trends have become more complex and tree growers need more sophisticated techniques to reach buyers, Loiterstein said.

For example, he said the trade group has noticed what appears to be a move back to traditional holiday values by the so-called “Generation Y” – an age group from 14-28 that has seen a steady increase in divorce and single-parent homes and views the holiday as a way to reunite families, if only temporarily.

“Half the fun of the holidays is picking out a tree on a lot or a farm,” Loiterstein said. “You don’t get that experience with going to Wal-Mart and lugging a plastic tree home in box, so we have to remind them of that.”