Kentucky is seeing growth when it comes to growing trees suitable for Christmas decorations. There are a number of factors in play for those farmers.
Elizabeth Werkmeister Shafer is president of the Kentucky Christmas Tree Association. She said the organization has gone from nine to 29 farms over the last four years. Werkmeister-Shafer is taking a longer road on her Shepherdsville farm, cutting 17 to 24 year old fir trees. She said many farmers opt for cheaper, much-faster growing scotch and white pine. When it comes to competition with artificial trees, Werkmeister-Shafer sees it as a half-cup full situation.
“I would still say it’s almost 50-50 because you have the people who want multiple trees and they want them up for two months and that’s just not something that you can do with real trees,” said Werkmeister-Shafer.
Werkmeister Shafer says farmers are always going to be battling pests like aphids and bagworms, but the biggest question is how much rain falls from the sky.
The Bullitt County farmer said she only sold what she grew on her farm this season. Werkmeister Shafer said some farms take on pre-cut tree like Frazier Firs from other states.
"Last year I ate about a 120 pre-cut trees. So…because the cost of our pre-cuts have gone up so much that for us to make anything on them our prices have to go up and people just don’t want to pay that,” said Werkmeister Shafer.
Source: weku.org
Photo Credit: istock-pyzata
Categories: Kentucky, Crops