Metro Voice News Celebrating Faith, Family & Community
‘Tis the season for Christmas trees. Even with many Americans opting for artificial trees, natural trees remain a big business.
More than 100,000 seasonal workers will sell between 25 million and 30 million trees for a cumulative $1.38 billion in the United States during the 2024 holiday season, the National Christmas Tree Association reported. When including artificial trees, wreaths, lighting and other accessories, market projections top $5.6 billion, according to Market Research Pulse and the American Christmas Tree Association, which primarily represents artificial tree retailers.
“The 2024 harvest across the country, in different places .. there are issues,” Jill Sidebottom, a spokesperson for the National Christmas Tree Association, told “The Epoch Times.” “It was very wet in the spring, and it was a dry summer in the Northeast. That affected trees in Pennsylvania and Maine. In North Carolina, we had this storm and a lot of young trees died. But for the most part, the taller trees were not damaged.”
Oregon leads the nation in Christmas tree production, followed by North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Washington. The association, which represents about 15,000 tree farms, 38 state and regional associations, and more than 4,000 businesses, selected a North Carolina Fraser Fir from a farm damaged by Hurricane Helene as the national tree for the White House, Sidebottom said.
“The great news is [North Carolina] trees came through, in most cases, in really great shape,” Marsha Gray, executive director of the Real Christmas Tree Board, said. “Several farms in low-lying areas did receive a lot of damage. The majority are grown on the sides of mountains, so the water was below them. Growers had some issues and concerns with infrastructure,” but roads and railways recovered rapidly.
The Real Christmas Tree Board, which represents the industry before the USDA, surveys growers nationwide every September to forecast supply for the coming season.
“They gave us a very positive response,” Gray said, noting that these growers sell two-thirds of Christmas trees bought across the United States. “The quality was good, no concerns with shipping and 60 percent said they did not plan to raise wholesale prices this year. We are ready, and we are excited.”
The biggest issue with the 2024 holiday season is the calendar, Sidebottom said: “The oddest thing about this season is Thanksgiving is so late this year. A lot more places opened the weekend before Thanksgiving.”
The future of the industry faces potential disruption from tariffs if President-elect Donald Trump follows through with proposed levies on imported goods, including from Canada, which produces nearly 30 percent of Christmas trees sold in the United States, and from the same corporate pressures that are driving independents and family run farms out of the agriculture industry.
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
