Christmas Tree Demand

Tim Hammerich

News Reporter

Many small businesses are struggling this year due to the pandemic. One group that is thriving, however, are choose-and-cut Christmas Tree Farms. Business has been booming, and many growers in Alabama are already sold out according to Auburn University assistant professor Jeremy Pickens.

Pickens… “In Alabama, we don't grow the firs like you might find at the box stores and some of the Christmas tree lots. We grow, used to be Virginia pine. Mainly now it's Leyland Cypress, so that's kind of the Southern Christmas tree. So they're mainly what they call a 'choose-and-cut' operations. So you go out yourself, you pick it out and you cut it down or you may pay, you know, a high school kid. So you go out there to the farm and pick it out yourself.”

Pickens says part of the demand is coming from people looking for safe ways to get out of the house in the pandemic. But he says it’s also part of a larger overarching trend.

Pickens… “We were already seeing sales going up. I think for several reasons, you know, people kind of speculated, maybe it's the millennial population coming to age. They want more natural things and they want to get those Kodak moments with the kids. Also they're heavy social media users, you know, and Facebook is a huge marketing tool for all these Christmas tree growers. People see their friends out there with their kids. And so that makes them want to go out and, you know, get those pictures taken and post them on Facebook.”

You’d better act quickly if you’re still hoping to buy a choose-and-cut Christmas tree this year.