Will Minnesota’s Extreme Drought Increase the Price of Your Christmas Tree This Year?
We've gotten used to seeing a shortage of various items due to the pandemic, but is the ongoing drought in Minnesota set to affect the price of Christmas trees this year?
Boy, if it's not one thing, it's another, isn't it? If it's not the pandemic causing supply chain issues that have made it tough to find certain products (like toilet paper or canned cat food in Rochester)-- or dramatically raised their price (like lumber)-- it's Mother Nature throwing us another curveball with our ongoing drought here in Minnesota.
And while all our extremely dry weather has certainly caused problems for farmers in the Land of 10,000 Lakes (Many Of Which Are Lower This Year,) is the ongoing drought now set to cause a shortage of Christmas trees-- or cause them to be much more expensive this year?
Minnesota ranks 14th in the country when it comes to Christmas tree production, and while you might find a Christmas tree grown over in Wisconsin (which is one of the top six states) on a tree lot here in the North Star State, if you get your tree from Minnesota Christmas tree farm, there's both good and bad news about this year's drought.
The good news is, according to the Minnesota Christmas Tree Association, it takes a Christmas tree between 8 to 10 years to mature before they're cut, so our ongoing drought this year likely won't affect the supply this holiday season.
But according to this KSTP story, the ongoing dry weather IS having an effect on Minnesota Christmas tree producers, who have had to incur greater costs when it comes to watering all those trees to keep them growing, among other things.
And CBS-Minnesota noted that some farms in Minnesota have lost close to 25 percent of the seedlings they planted this spring due to the drought-- which could affect the supplies-- and increase the price-- of Christmas trees eight to 10 years from now.
Minnesota may not be one of the top states when it comes to Christmas tree production, but we ARE near the top of the list when it comes to companies based here that have invented many things we use every day. Keep scrolling to check out some items you probably didn't know came from Minnesota.
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