Unusually dry conditions across the Northeast have caused Christmas tree farmers to project shortages in their crops in upcoming years, spiking prices.
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.
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.
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.
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