Worcester Business Journal

10 Worcester Business Journal | December 6, 2021 | wbjournal.com e evolving world of Christmas tree farms Choose-and-cuts Christmas trees sold out at record speeds in 2020, and farms are adjusting to a new demographic of customer BY MONICA BENEVIDES WBJ Senior Staff Writer C hristmas tree farms were taken by storm last year, as shoppers jumped at the chance to partake in a relatively safe, outdoor holiday activity. Local farms sold out their stock in a fraction of the time they'd expect in a normal year. "It was probably the best year we've ever had," said Dave Morin, past president of the Massachusetts Christmas Tree Association and owner of Arrowhead Acres in Uxbridge, an event venue and Christmas tree farm. Arrowhead nearly doubled its usual sales last year, Morin said, and probably would have had it not been for inclement weather on the last weekend before the Christmas holiday. at's no small feat for someone who, like Morin, first began planting Christmas trees around the year 1986. Now, Morin, like other Christmas tree farmers in Massachusetts, is playing catch-up from such a busy season. He's cleared more land and planted four times as many trees as he would in a normal year, hired about a third more employees than he did last year, and purchased new equipment in anticipation of increased demand. At the same time, he's juggling pressure from ongoing supply chain issues raising the cost of doing business, including purchasing equipment, as well as minimum wage and fuel prices. "e materials that go into these things are going up," Morin said. As a result, despite increased demand, which he expects to continue into this season, he's raised the price of his pre- cut trees to $75, he said, although he said it's still lower than most choose- and-cut farms, and especially compared to increasing price tags on artificial trees, which have been subjected to the same economic issues as other goods sold in stores this holiday season. Seller's market e National Christmas Tree Association reported sales nationally last year occurred earlier and took place at a faster rate, but nationally demand wasn't necessarily higher. It was complicated, the association said in its review of the season, because of constraints on supply. Still, the assessment concluded 2020 was a great year for Christmas tree farmers, in general, and found something else: e live tree consumer demographic had shied. Per the report, nearly 40% of live trees were purchased in 2020 by people who lived in urban areas, an 8% increase from the year before. e average age of a live tree consumer was 38, four years younger than in 2019. Dave Morin, past president of the Massachusetts Christmas Tree Association and owner of Arrowhead Acres in Uxbridge, who nearly doubled his tree sales in 2020, tends to a tree on his farm. PHOTOS/MATT WRIGHT

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