In the United States, tree farming has been conducted since 1851, when a farm entrepreneur called Mark Carr hauled about two sleds of evergreens into New York City, as trees for sale. It is said he sold them all out, hence giving rise to tree farming as now known. Then in 1901, farming of Christmas trees started out on larger scale as a New Jersey farmer planted Norway spruce trees numbering about 25,000. Later, the tree grower would harvest and sell them off at $ 1 per tree.

From beginning to middle of the 20th century, tree management activities went on at quite a slow pace. Estimates had it in 1940 that 90% of Christmas tree plants for sale still came from forests. Out of family tradition, most Americans would decorate and display trees that they had selected, cut and dragged into their homes. Their families did not imagine having someone else execute this noble practice on their behalf.

Following the Second World War, farming of Christmas trees started getting recognized as fundamental to agriculture in America. By example, some farmers would opt to establish evergreen wholesale tree nurseries, where they had rough land that was unsuitable for planting crops. Such tree planters would use such farming practice as a final business venture, rounded the year off well. This is because they would harvest the trees meant for Christmas during winter, therefore injecting some cash-flow into their personal economies.

In the 1960s however, farming of Christmas tree varieties did decline, giving way to more full-time operations of farming to arise. The main regions where this took place were in the upper Midwest especially Michigan, North Carolina and Pacific Northwest. Continued growth happened in the Christmas tree market up until the 1980s. Oversupply of these tree varieties at this time pushed Christmas tree prices into a downward trend. Varieties of trees once retailing at $18-$30 apiece, started to sell for about $5 each, during early 1990s. Discouraged and having suffered huge losses, many tree farmers left this practice. Live use of Christmas trees began declining also in the course of the 1990s, as families settled for artificial tree varieties as a fitting substitute. Reasons abound as to why this shift occurred. Some people thought it prudent to maintain standing trees for Christmas, being opposed to purchasing live ones year after year. Others found it more convenient to obtain the artificial models. A section of them chose such due to safety considerations, since live trees were susceptible to getting inflamed with fire. People also adopted the notion that avoiding real tree varieties from plant nurseries prevented deforestation, thereby preserving the ecosystem.

The past decade just witnessed the shooting up of live tree purchases. This has happened especially because most individuals understand that a real Christmas trees originates from a well managed tree farm. People have gotten educated about fire prevention through tree-watering practices. Automated tree-watering devices too, are playing a significant role in promoting Christmas tree purchases, as you do not need to keep this chore in your diary.

Tammy Sons is the author of this article on Tree Farm.
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