Christmas tree shortage projected from severe Northeast drought: 'We can't grow anything'
It'll be a December to remember after a severe drought across the Northeast is killing off young Christmas trees.
The drought has led to significant losses for farmers in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, and has also raised concerns about future shortages.
Farmers reported that up to 25% of this year’s crop of young trees has been lost due to unusually dry conditions.
Forecasters in Philadelphia have been monitoring a near-historic dry fall that's been blamed for sparking wildfires and drought conditions. A brief spit of rain last week in the Delaware Valley snapped a 42-day rain-less streak in Philadelphia that was the city's longest stretch since 1871.
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Chris Moran, who operates Vandervalk Farm in Mendon, Massachusetts, said the drought wiped out around 500 of the 2,700 seedlings he planted last spring.
"They’re all yellow on the inside. The needles are falling off," Moran told WBZ-TV. "Without water, we can’t grow anything."
Typically, Moran said he might lose about 10 trees in a year, but this season’s losses are far higher. Fortunately, the farm’s older, more established trees — planted 10 to 15 years ago — have not been affected, so customers will not see shortages or price hikes this Christmas.
Jeff Hill, a Christmas tree farmer in Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania, described similar losses. The drought has left younger trees unable to develop deep enough roots to access moisture.
"You can see the root system just doesn’t go deep enough to get the moisture, and a lot of them just can’t hang on," Hill told WNEP. "You can see the dead trees there in the field."
Hill warned that the true impact would hit in about five to six years, when these lost seedlings would have matured into marketable trees.
"This is where we really get hurt," Hill said. "There’s a shortage of Christmas trees, and this keeps the shortage going on because you can’t get your new ones to survive."
Moran attributes the extreme weather to climate change, noting that last year’s challenge was too much rain, not too little.
"You just can’t win," Moran said.
While this year’s drought has been particularly harsh, the problem is not isolated. October was the second-driest on record for New York City, leading to water conservation advisories. Forecasters expect conditions to worsen before improving.
Christmas tree prices have been climbing in recent years. In 2023, prices were up 15% nationally, according to Forbes. In Manhattan, a 10-foot tree fetched as much as $550 last December, up from $350 the previous year. One 13-foot Fraser fir was even sold for $1,750 in Kips Bay.
Moran predicts that the drought’s full economic impact will be felt in about a decade, when this year’s lost seedlings will have matured.
"In 10 years, I have 25 or 20% less of my product to sell," said Moran, whose family farm grows about 10,000 trees on 10 acres.
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JC Hill Tree Farms and Vandervalk Farm & Winery did not immediately respond to FOX Business' request for comment.
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