Total production
In 2002, in the United States, 21,904 Christmas tree farms covering 447,000 acres (1,810 km 2 ) of cropland accounted for the 20.8 million Christmas trees cut. Of those farms, 686 harvested 100 acres (0.40 km 2 ) or more, which accounted for over 196,000 of the total acres of trees harvested. That same year, there were only three U.S. Christmas tree farms with more than 10,000 acres (40 km 2 ) of cropland in production. Pennsylvania was home to the most American Christmas tree farms in 2002; the state boasted 2,164 farms. Oregon, however, had the most acreage devoted to the crop with 67,800 acres being used for Christmas tree farming.
The total U.S. crop in 2004 was valued at $506 million with $143 million attributed to the nation's leading producer in 2004, Oregon. Oregon was followed in production numbers by North Carolina, Washington, and Michigan.
North Carolina
In 2002 about 2.9 million Christmas trees were harvested in the state of North Carolina, second behind only Oregon in terms of trees cut.
Pacific Northwest
Pennsylvania
Great Lakes states
Aside from Pennsylvania, several U.S. states in the Great Lakes region are key Christmas tree producers. The two most important production areas are Michigan, one of the leading U.S. producers, and Wisconsin.
Michigan's Christmas tree industry is worth around $60 million per year. Seventy-five percent of the Christmas trees harvested from the 850 Michigan tree farms are exported out of state for sale elsewhere. Christmas tree farms in Michigan covered 54,000 acres in 2004.
Other regions
Trees are grown across the United States in varying conditions, Christmas trees are grown in all 50 U.S. states including Alaska and Hawaii. In the U.S. state of Alabama there are almost 100 Christmas tree farms which average 800 trees annually. Ninety percent of Alabama's tree farms are "choose and cut" type operations which allow customers to visit and cut their own live Christmas tree.
Real versus artificial
In 1992, in the United States, about 46 percent of homes displaying Christmas trees displayed an artificial tree. Twelve years later, a 2004 ABC News/ Washington Post poll revealed that 58 percent of U.S. residents used an artificial tree instead of a natural tree. The real versus artificial tree debate has been popular in mass media through the early 21st century. The debate is a frequent topic of news articles during the Christmas holiday season. Early 21st century coverage of the debate focused on the decrease in natural Christmas tree sales, and rise in artificial tree sales over the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 2004, the U.S. Christmas tree industry hired the advertising agency Smith Harroff to spearhead an ad campaign aimed at rejuvenating lagging sales of natural trees.
See also
- Christmas tree production
- Christmas tree production in Canada
Notes
- ^ a b "Woodland Crops: 2002 and 1997," (PDF), 2002 Census of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved 14 July 2007 .
- ^ a b c "The Holiday Season," (Press release), United States Census Bureau , 19 December 2005 . Retrieved 25 August 2007 .
- ^ "Woodland Crops: 2002 and 1997," (PDF), 2002 Census of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistic Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved 6 September 2007 .
- ^ a b c Probyn, Laura. "MSU Provides Weed Control Support for Christmas Tree Producers," (Press release), Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, Michigan State University , 15 December 2004 . Retrieved 7 September 2007 .
- ^ "Holiday trees in oversupply," The New York Times , 30 November 1992 . Retrieved 5 September 2007 .
- ^ a b Langer, Gary. "Poll: Fake Christmas Trees Grow Popular," ABC News , 23 December 2004 . Retrieved 10 September 2007 .
- ^ a b Muñoz, Sara, Schaefer. "Fight Before Christmas: Real Trees vs. Fakes," The Wall Street Journal , 21 December 2006 . Retrieved 10 September 2007 .
- ^ Garofoli, Joe. "O Christmas tree, are ye real or fake?," San Francisco Chronicle , via Scripps Howard News Service,