Christmas trees will cost more this year. Here's why.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — It's a gig straight out of a Hallmark Christmas movie, but it's not paying the bills for some growers.
The costs for tree growers, driven by inflation, are up this year. KDKA-TV's Meghan Schiller talked to one of the owners at Trax Farms about how a shortage of available growers is leading to higher sticker prices.
"Still got to pay the bills and support the family at the end of the day. So yeah, I can understand as rewarding as it is, it still comes down to paying the bills," said Ross Trax of Trax Farms.
Trax said his farm still sources a lot of trees from eastern Pennsylvania, but its main supplier in Indiana County recently retired.
"We dealt with Fleming Tree Farm out there, 30 to 40 years, for as long as I can remember," Trax said.
And not all of the retiring growers are getting replaced by young business owners. It's another reason why it's harder for Trax to source his trees locally. Price hikes on things like fertilizers and pesticides only make it more costly for growers, and it's pushing up prices.
"They get sticker shock because they're used to buying maybe a $50 tree and it's a $100 tree," Trax said.
But Trax says it's nowhere near where it should be.
"I think they were too cheap for too long, and we lost growers for that reason," he said. "So I think the price is finally where it needs to be in order to get interest in growers out there. But it's just a little too late."
Ultimately, Trax said he's had to call growers in Quebec, Canada for some shipments over the past few years. That's why he wants customers to realize what goes into growing the holiday staple we've all come to love.
"I say, 'Well, how about this? I'll give you a seedling and you plant it, and in 10 years I'll come back and buy it off you for $50 and you'll make $5 to $10 a year.' And I'll say, 'Do you want to do that?' And they'll say, 'Well no, that's crazy.'"
The National Christmas Tree Association says the cost of a tree last year was just shy of $70 and now it's closer to $100.