Real Christmas Trees: A Market Worth Supporting

Source: American Farm Bureau

For many families, choosing a real Christmas tree marks the official start of the holiday season. The scent, the visit to the local farm, watching dad wrestle a half-rusted saw through the branches and trunk, hours spent sifting through family ornaments — these moments remain an iconic part of American Christmas culture. But behind that holiday ritual is a specialty-crop industry now contending with record imports of artificial competitors, decade-long production cycles, rising biological pressures and years of increasingly volatile weather. Even so, thousands of family Christmas tree farms continue to bring millions of fresh, U.S.-grown trees to market each year. Understanding the economics behind this crop sheds light on the challenges growers face and why buying a real tree is, now more than ever, an easy and meaningful way to support U.S. farmers.

A Highly Specialized Industry

Christmas tree farming is not evenly spread across the United States. Production is concentrated in a handful of states with the right elevation, soils, rainfall patterns and winter temperatures. Oregon and North Carolina alone accounted for more than half of the 14.5 million cut Christmas trees harvested in 2022, with Michigan, Washington, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Virginia following. According to the 2022 Census of Agriculture, roughly 10,000 farms harvested Christmas trees on about 293,000 acres nationwide, generating an estimated $553 million in farm-gate revenue for U.S. growers.

A single tree is visited sometimes more than a hundred times over its lifetime, as growers prune, scout, and guide its form by hand. Image credit - Mark Stebnicki

Tree varieties vary by region based on climate and consumer preference. North Carolina’s high-elevation counties are ideally suited for Fraser fir, known for its strong branches and needle retention, while Oregon is the leading producer of noble and Douglas firs, which dominate the Western wholesale market. In colder northern states, consumers are more likely to find spruce, Scotch pine, or white Pine, species that tolerate shorter growing seasons and are popular on choose-and-cut farms.

Beyond their economic value, Christmas tree farms also provide environmental benefits. Growing trees absorb carbon, stabilize soil, and preserve open space, with many farms supporting wildlife habitat.

Continue reading here>>

https://www.fb.org/market-intel/real-christmas-trees-a-market-worth-supporting