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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
How drought is ruining Christmas in the Northeast
By Rachel Ramirez, CNN
Updated:
5:01 PM EST, Fri November 15, 2024
Source: CNN
Christmas tree farmers across the Northeast are looking decidedly less
merry as they struggle to keep their trees alive amid a weeks-long
drought that has left vegetation brown, shriveled and crisp.
Nearly 60% of the Northeast was in drought last week, according to the
, and more than a quarter of it was in severe to extreme drought
conditions, having received little to no rain for weeks.
It’s the young trees at Christmas tree farms that are getting hit
hardest, threatening to impact many farms’ tree sales in the future,
since it takes about seven to eight years to grow a mature Christmas
tree.
At Vandervalk Farm in Mendon, Massachusetts, the trees that are
thriving right now were planted 10 to 15 years ago. Meanwhile, about
500 of the 2,700 Christmas trees the farm planted earlier this spring
have already died from drought conditions.
“This year’s been too dry. They’re all yellow on the inside, the
needles are falling off,” farm manager Chris Moran . “No farm needs
no water. Without water, we can’t grow anything.”
“We lost 20 to 25 percent of the trees that we planted this year,”
he added, which means that “in ten years, I have 25 or 20 percent
less of my product to sell.”
Jami Warner, executive director of the American Christmas Tree
Association, agrees with the grim outlook.
“Christmas tree farms in the Northeast have, unfortunately, been hit
with drought conditions that will impact the crop for several years to
come,” Warner told CNN. “While consumers will be able to find their
Christmas trees this season, some growers in the Northeast will not be
able to harvest as many trees as they have in past non-drought
years.”
Moran is not alone. Further south in Virginia, Darryl Schwartz, the
owner of Whispering Pines Nursery, also said the farm has not received
rain in five weeks. He’s had to water some trees by hand.
“It’s the first time in 40 years I’ve ever had to do that,”
Schwartz told CNN affiliate WWBT-TV. “It was quite a worry this year
going so long without rain just before harvest time.”
2024 is on track to be the , according to the World Meteorological
Organization, and follows an ongoing streak of record-shattering warm
years. The growing concentration of planet-heating pollution in the
atmosphere is drastically changing the weather and reshaping many
things humans value the most, including one of Christmas’s most
beloved centerpieces.
Moran said he blames the changing climate. His farm already saw a
shortage after the area was hit with too much rain last year. This
year, he’s had to deal with the opposite.
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