While tree farmers are selling more Christmas trees than last year, experts say inflation has impacted the state's overall production costs this year. More than 3 million Fraser fir trees — popularly used as Christmas Trees — are harvested annually in western North Carolina.
The executive director of the North Carolina Christmas Association, Jennifer Greene, said total expenses from inflation really impacted tree farmers this year.
“Input costs such as labor and all of the costs that it takes on the farm, like fertilizer and the materials that it costs, all the equipment costs, so yes, it does ultimately impact Christmas tree production,” she said.
Experts say tree farmers are also harvesting more Christmas trees this year in western North Carolina than last year. Carrie McClain is a Christmas Tree farmer and CEO at Hart-T-Tree Farm in Ashe County, one of the largest Christmas Tree-producing counties in North Carolina. She said every year, they've been selling more and more Christmas trees — even right after Helene.
“So the biggest concern during Hurricane Helene, was the infrastructure the roads to get our Christmas trees out of the mountains and across the United States, and thanks to the North Carolina Department of Transportation and other partners who worked long hours, the roads were repaired, and we were able to get our trees out just fine last season,” said McClain who also serves on the board of the Ashe County Christmas Tree Association. McClain also said Christmas tree farmers and residents in western North Carolina were mostly impacted emotionally by the stress from Helene.
“Going through the event, watching many places that you love, watching the mountains change…just experiencing Helene was difficult,” she said. “I know a lot of Christmas tree farmers were out helping clear debris and help their neighbors get out of their homes. But in the end, we got the Christmas trees out in time.”
Meanwhile, McClain said she thinks the pandemic had a larger impact on the Christmas Tree industry in western N.C. than Helene, in a good way. “We had a crazy successful year in 2020, and I think 2021 was pretty good too, and that's really been difficult for us then to gauge how many trees were likely to sell in 2022 through 2024,” she said. McClain attributes that success during the pandemic to things like more people being home, which gave them more time to do family activities such as putting up a real Christmas tree as well as having time to drive to western North Carolina to purchase a Christmas Tree.
According to the State Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, over $144 million in farm income comes from North Carolina Christmas trees alone. Fraser firs tend to grow naturally in the western part of the state, and 96% of North Carolina Christmas Trees are Fraser firs. In addition to Ashe, some other top Christmas Tree growing counties in the state include Mitchell and Avery.
