Name: Christmas tree farms feeling impacts of drought despite good weather
Uploaded: 2025-12-10T02:43:57.838Z
Duration: 1 min 34 s
Description: One year of drought can disrupt operations at Christmas tree farms for years to come.

One year of drought can disrupt operations at Christmas tree farms for years to come.

Oregon

Oregon Christmas tree farms are experiencing healthy yields this year, a notable improvement from the previous year when drought conditions made it difficult for many farms in the Northeast to keep young trees alive. Farmers have relied heavily on irrigation, running wells nonstop and incurring high electric costs to ensure the survival of new plantings.

Despite the current abundance of healthy trees, the long-term effects of last year's drought are expected to persist for years, as Christmas trees take nearly a decade to mature. Farmers report that while irrigation helps, weather—particularly temperature—remains a critical factor, and financial recovery from the drought will take time.

Christmas tree farms feeling impacts of drought despite good weather

We were definitely happy going into the year because we had an abundancy of trees and not just the number of trees, but they all look relatively well. It's a much different picture from last year when drought left farms across the Northeast struggling to keep their youngest trees alive. Every year is a challenge. We deal with the weather. We deal with diseases. We deal with the type of tree we plant when it's a baby, but basically we try to make sure that we get off to a good start. Getting a good start meant relying heavily on irrigation. Many farms had no choice but to run wells nonstop just to keep new plantings alive. At this farm, we have three wells and they're just constantly being used and the electric bill at the month can be 1200 to 1500 a month. Christmas trees take nearly a decade to grow, meaning the impacts from last year's drought could ripple for years. We plant a block and let's say there's 250 trees in a block. After the first year, there may be only 110 that's alive, so that means 125 or 150 have to be replanted. So it's replanting until you got a substantial field growing normally and then you feel comfortable. And even with added irrigation, farmers say the final outcome often comes down to the weather. It's weather conditions all the time. We can control the watering, but we can't control the temperatures and that's a big factor right there. The bottom line, this year's Christmas trees are healthy and ready for your living room. But for farmers, the financial recovery from drought is still years away. For AccuWeather, I'm Allie Reed.

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