Nov 28, 2018 3 min read

Henry Nutbrown’s parents started growing Christmas trees when he was 14 as a way to pay for his and his two sisters’ education.

He graduated college at 21. The first of the trees didn’t mature for a few more years.

“I learned right off the bat that it’s a long-term proposition, and I would not make managerial decisions, like don’t plant any trees because the economy’s down,” said the 74-year-old owner of Nutbrown’s Christmas Tree Farm in Collier Township.

Industry watchers predict an increase in the price of Christmas trees this year. Doug Hundley, a spokesman for the National Christmas Tree Growers Association, said retail prices could rise by up to five percent this year, after rising one or two percent last year.

Hundley – himself a tree farmer in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina – said the industry is in a rebound. From roughly 2000 to 2015, Hundley said the wholesale prices growers charge retail stores stayed stagnant or decreased in some cases.

“We couldn’t pass on our increasing production costs because of the decline in demand because of the sluggish economy, and in addition to that we ended up with more trees. You can’t hold a Christmas tree forever,” he said. “You have to sell them or cut them down. Or sell them at a lower price, and that’s why prices decreased.”

Sherwood Nursery in South Strabane Township buys its retail Christmas trees from a farm in Wisconsin. The company chose not to pass an increase in the grower’s prices on to customers.

Owner Paul Ciaffoni blamed the higher cost on a tree scarcity.

“When the grower’s not getting a good price, they flood the market, price goes down,” Ciaffoni said. “Right now they’re in a situation where the price is up… It’s all supply and demand.”

Recent media reports attribute rising prices this year to a tree shortage that coincides with the 2008 implosion of the overcollateralized financial market that put some farmers out of business.

Nutbrown, who sells his own trees, didn’t refute that explanation, but said it didn’t line up with his experience. For him, the tree prices are a sign of a good economy.

“The price is up this year, but I personally could not attribute it to the recession of 2008 because people in this business know it’s a long-term venture,” said Nutbrown, who has about five acres of trees on the farm he owns with his wife, Sue. “You wouldn’t stop planting because of a downturn in the economy. I didn’t.”

He said he adjusts prices to keep up with inflation, but “truthfully, I don’t think I’ve ever adjusted my price due to supply.”

Kathy Leavitt, who owns Candle Tree Farm in Buffalo Township with her son Greg, said the supply of trees fluctuates from year to year.

“We’ve been doing this for 30 years now,” she said. “To go through those cycles in 30 years, I’ve seen that happen a lot, and I don’t know how to judge the national market because it keeps going around.”

The Leavitts sell trees and wreaths from their farm, which is home to about 50 acres of trees.

“We’ve raised the price of just one of our trees,” Kathy Leavitt said. “Otherwise, it’s the same as last year,” she said.

Staff photojournalist Celeste Van Kirk contributed reporting.