Iowa’s Christmas Tree Season Will Come With Its Challenges This Year

No matter where you look, there seems to be a never-ending number of reports about what inflation has impacted this year. As we roll through the holiday season, it hasn’t gotten any better.

This year, the American Farm Bureau Federation calculated the average cost of the weekend’s Thanksgiving feast. They found that people were spending about 20 percent more on Thanksgiving dinner than in 2021.

Well now that Thanksgiving is over, it’s time we start looking into the next holiday gathering… such as Christmas.

Many tree growers are already starting to warn people about inflation’s effects on Christmas trees.

According to an article in KCRG, the group Real Christmas Tree Growers surveyed 55 Christmas tree, wholesale growers. They found that 71 percent of the growers raised their prices to retailers by 15 percent.

That means the price you see, will be higher.

Christmas trees take 6 to 8 years to grow to a marketable height, but just because the tree was planted that long ago doesn’t mean that it is immune to the effects of inflation today.

Mark Banowetz, owner of Cedars Edge Evergreen Market told KCRG that the increases in operations cost, labor, raw material, and shipping are driving prices up.

But, increased prices won’t be the only hurdle this year when it comes to getting the perfect tree.

An article in The Hill says that the variety of trees available will likely be smaller as well.

Many tree farmers have noticed that with the pandemic came an increased demand for real trees during the holiday season. And as tree farms shut down, it drives up demand for the farms that remain open.

So, if you are thinking about getting a real tree this year, you might want to look sooner rather than later to make sure you can find one!

Check out this list of Christmas tree farms in Iowa where you can buy a tree this year!