Some of the world’s largest Christmas tree farms are right here in the Northwest. Some are harvesting about 20,000 trees a day.
A stronger economy and several years of cutbacks on plantings in the Northwest have increased prices this year by about a few dollars per tree for the farmer.
Bryan Ostlund heads the Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Association in Salem, Oregon.
“We got a little carried away with planting in roughly 2001 and 2003. And we’ve just now recently worked through that supply,” he said. “And so now we are getting back to where inventories are where they should be.”
The abundance of U-cut farms and retailers in the Northwest moderates those merry hikes. But residents of areas like Los Angeles, Los Alamos, Hawaii or Mexico are likely to notice a bigger difference in price.
