The Christmas tree harvest keeps Wisconsin farmers busy before Thanksgiving

On By Pranco

ENDEAVOR – Before it’s the most wonderful time of the year, it’s the busiest time of the year for farmers like David Chapman.

Chapman and his wife Leah flee Silent Night Evergreensa Christmas tree farm in this village of 400 north of Portage. The run-up to Thanksgiving is not a Hallmark Christmas movie. It’s a lot of hard work, as they cut down and send nearly 20,000 trees to nurseries and tree lots across the Midwest and as far west as the Colorado Rockies.

“Shipping week is always the worst,” said Jim Chapman, David’s father. “There have literally been years where we haven’t slept for a few days, but David is really organised.”

On a cold Wednesday morning, the wind carried the scent of pine that David, 43, can no longer smell because he is so used to it. Thousands of baled trees, stacked in piles, packed and ready to ship. A line of paint on the stumps indicated the height of each tree. Blue is for the two to two meter tall trees; orange for the slightly larger eight to nine feet.

Two workers dragged balsam firs into the elevator. Longtime employee Russ Hebel pulled the trees off the line and onto a truck from Platt Hill Nursery, where residents of suburban Chicago will gather in the coming weeks to purchase the centerpiece of their festivities.

Jim, 71, stood on the sidelines, holding a can of fuel to fill the tractor when it was low on fuel. David’s mother, Diane, watched the workers from the warmth of her car, clicking on her counter for each tree being loaded into the truck. Click. Click. Click.

David took over the family farm in 2016 after a decade of business in Milwaukee and when his four siblings showed no interest. He is one of 374 licensed Christmas tree growers in Wisconsin, according to the state Agriculture Department. About 26,000 acres of Christmas tree fields cover Wisconsin, which ranks fifth nationally in Christmas tree production.

“It’s amazing how many people, when I tell them I make Christmas trees, they ask me what my full-time job is,” David said. “They assume you just plant them in the spring and harvest them in the fall, and then that’s all you have to do.”

That common misconception about Christmas tree farms is exactly what brought Jim into the business in 1978. Initially, he followed in his father’s footsteps as a commercial beekeeper. As he watched the farmers plant seedlings in the spring, he thought it would be easy enough.

“I didn’t know it was all this,” he said, arms outstretched toward the 300-acre farm.

Drought, warmer weather and pests pose challenges for the Christmas tree industry

The Christmas tree industry involves quite a few risks.

There is no price support, as the federal government does for some other crops. Trees only grow about three feet per year, so farmers wait at least seven years before they can be chopped and sold.

David plants 25,000 to 30,000 trees each year and expects to lose about 10% of them in a good year.

And then there are the bad years.

Growers don’t necessarily link the erratic weather patterns they’re increasingly experiencing to climate change, says Bert Cregg, a horticulture professor at Michigan State University whose research expertise includes Christmas tree production.

Drought can kill thousands of young trees, reducing supplies for years to come, he said. Warmer winters bring new insects and pests north. Earlier warming in the spring causes trees to break buds sooner. Milder autumns affect trees’ ability to retain their needles.

“You’re going to have to have growers who are smarter and pay attention to what species they plant and where,” Cregg said. “The margin of error will become smaller. It could exclude some growers, especially the smaller ones who don’t have the knowledge or equipment.”

Predicting Christmas tree trends in 10 years

The past five years have been good for Silent Night Evergreens, says David.

Part of that was the pandemic, when more people chose real trees to get out of the house. But he said the period after the Great Recession played an even bigger role in today’s favorable economic conditions. There was an ‘abundance’ of trees at the time, which caused some farmers to leave the business and fewer trees were planted. Fast forward 10 years and the demand is greater. Of course, that could bring new entrants into the industry, which could lead to less demand in ten years.

Planning for a decade is David’s biggest challenge: which variety to plant, how many customers there will be in ten years.

“It’s such a gamble,” he said.

Jim learned that the hard way when Fraser firs became extremely popular and he didn’t have enough to sell. He blamed Martha Stewart for promoting the strain in one of her holiday specials.

“Tonight, boom!” he said.

Jim personally prefers balms for their appearance and scent. He is “very picky” when it comes to choosing the right one for his home.

Growing Christmas trees is ‘a good life’

David crunched the numbers. During Jim’s decade-plus growing career, he has cut down more than 1 million Christmas trees.

This year was the first time Jim didn’t take out his chainsaw and help cut down trees. He retires from the company after passing the torch to David.

There is a photo in the family office of David at the age of 10. It was his first summer cutting the trees into the shapes that illuminate our living rooms. Shearing is a big part of the job that most outsiders don’t understand.

Jim said he tried to discourage David from taking over Silent Night Evergreens. Running a business comes with many worries.

“But I’m glad he did because he seems to enjoy it,” Jim said. “It’s a good life.”

The end of the harvest is approaching. Wholesalers want to have trees in their lots by Thanksgiving Day. The next day, David will open his pick-and-cut, where families will pick a pine in his fields, cut it down and drag it to their car.

After Christmas comes David’s slow season. He can exhale a little. Plant until spring.

Contact Kelly Meyerhofer at [email protected] or 414-223-5168. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @KellyMeyerhofer.