Did Wisconsin tree growers save Christmas this year?
Growers sending trees all over after recession led to shortage
Is this the year Wisconsin tree growers saved Christmas?
That might be stretching things a bit.
Still, amid a tight supply — some say it’s a shortage — of fresh cut Christmas trees in parts of the United States, growers in Wisconsin say they have been fielding dozens of calls and filling more orders than usual from folks who are seeking trees for the holiday season.
The situation is a remnant of the Great Recession, which drove an untold number of U.S. Christmas tree growers from the business. Fewer growers has meant fewer trees.
Since a Christmas tree takes about a decade to reach a height of 7 to 8 feet — the size that families most prefer — growers now don’t have as many to cut and ship around the country as they have had in past years, according to the National Christmas Tree Association, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group.
The result is in some parts of the U.S., it may be harder to find a Christmas tree this year. And that
may drive up prices 5% to 10%, according to the association.
The farther away someone is from a Christmas treegrowing state, the more difficult it may be to find the perfect tree.
Wisconsin growers have stepped in where they can to help fill the void, said Cheryl Nicholson, executive secretary of the Wisconsin Christmas Tree Producers Association in Portage.
“We have plenty of trees,” she said. “We’ve been filling some of those holes from other places.
“In Wisconsin, we’re doing great,” Nicholson added. “We have plenty of trees, and we’ve been filling orders like crazy.”
Wisconsin ranks in the top five of U.S. Christmas tree production, and growers here say they have fielded more calls from throughout the country seeking trees this year.
“We’ve had plenty of trees for our regular customers, but we have probably had five times the (usual) amount of calls from other customers looking for trees because their regular growers did not have trees anymore,” said Diane Chapman, family co-owner of Silent Night Evergreens in Endeavor, which is about 50 miles north of Madison.
Silent Night Evergreens provided the White House Christmas Tree this year. The Chapmans were grand champion winners of the 2017 National Christmas Tree Contest, sponsored by the National Christmas Tree Association.
“We got calls this year from California, Oregon and Colorado,” Chapman said. “I think those areas have a much more severe shortage.
“They call us to try to fill in the gaps,” she said. “We sent some trees to some of the earlier calls to Colorado and Tennessee.”
Other growers in Wisconsin say they also have received calls from farther away than usual.
“The growers that I talk to say there are definitely more sales than there have been in the past (few years) for sure,” said Derek Ahl, third generation partner at Northern Family Farms in Merrillan and president of the Wisconsin Christmas Tree Producers Association. “It’s been really positive for Wisconsin.”
Ahl has received calls from as far away as California and Texas looking for trees.
“We definitely had more calls from farther away this year from people who had never bought trees from us before,” Ahl said.
Northern Family Farms grows Christmas trees on 3,000 acres in Wisconsin. The company ships fresh cut trees as far west as Colorado, as far south as Missouri and Kansas, and just about everywhere in between, including the Dakotas, Wyoming and Nebraska.
Besides Wisconsin, the other leading tree producing states are Oregon, North Carolina, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
“There were a lot of tree growers that went out of business,” as a result of the recession, said Dee Clark, owner of C&G Nursery in Newland, N.C. “That leads to an overall shortage across the industry.”
There are nearly 15,000 Christmas tree farms in the U.S. In Wisconsin, the growers who remained through the recession have, in many cases, grown larger, adding acres that others were no longer interested in cultivating.
“Our growers have done really well because other growers left the business eight to 10 years ago,” Nicholson said. “That is showing up in the supply of trees (nationwide) this year.”
Ahl says he believes the situation is more a result of supply aligning more closely with demand rather than a severe tree shortage.
“I truly believe that anyone who would like a tree will get a tree this year,” Ahl said. “If you want a real Christmas tree, you’re going to be able to get a real Christmas tree.
“Christmas trees seem to go in over-supply and under-supply cycles,” Ahl said. “The supply and demand curve has kind of met, and I think we’re kind of where we should be.”
The stock at the local tree lot might be picked over as Christmas approaches, Nicholson said.
“There may not be trees left over at the end of the season like you may have seen in past years,” she said. “People might want to get out this weekend and get their tree and not wait.”
Home improvement store chains, which typically set up tree sales operations in their parking lots or nurseries, are among those watching the situation closely.
“We have not experienced any shortages or cost increases from our suppliers this year. However, with demand being so high, we encourage customers to buy now to ensure they get the size and type of tree they want,” Lowe’s spokesman Matt Michaels said in an email.
Last year, 27.4 million Christmas trees were sold across the nation. The most popular varieties were Noble and Fraser firs, and consumers reported spending an average of $74.70 for a tree.
Looking ahead to 2018, the Christmas tree supply will probably remain tight, Chapman said.
“Trees are getting scarcer as tree farmers get older and retire,” Chapman said.
Her son and daughter-in-law, David and Leah, plan to take over the business and will seek to expand it back up to 700 acres, after the family had cut back its acreage in recent years.
Labor, or lack thereof, is also an issue facing Christmas tree farming.
The trees have to be fertilized, then pruned so they grow in a classic “Christmas tree” shape. Then they have to be cut, wrapped and shipped. Finding workers to handle those tasks has been a challenge and is another factor that has driven some growers from the business.
“Christmas trees are a labor-intensive crop,” Ahl said. “Everybody’s looking for labor right now. Labor is definitely an issue across agriculture.”
USA TODAY contributed to this report.