Here’s a holiday season jewel for Maine’s crown: Aroostook has topped every other county in the Northeast for Christmas tree sales.
State by state, well-wooded Maine ranked fourth for Christmas tree sales in the Northeast and ninth nationally, but Aroostook stood out at the county level.
In hard numbers, Christmas tree sales brought an estimated $1.3 million to The County in 2012, the most recent year for which comprehensive data is available. The County’s total represented about one-third of the state’s $3.6 million sales for that year.
Those numbers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2012 census — released in May — are the first to document Christmas tree sales totals by county.
But while dollar-amount sales figures aren’t available for the two previous five-year surveys, in 2002 and 2007, acreage and harvesting trends show Christmas tree harvesting has been on the rise in The County and other parts of the state in recent years.
Statewide, the number of Christmas trees harvested in Maine reached 195,833 in 2012, up from 113,290 five years earlier and exceeding a harvest of 164,406 trees in 2002. Acreage dedicated to Christmas tree cultivation was up to 5,694 from 4,349 five years earlier, and the number of tree harvesting operations grew to 302 from about 236 during that same period.
The USDA census figures are the most comprehensive look specifically at the niche market of Christmas tree sales, which are a relatively small part of the state’s total agricultural production and a boon for landowners who tap into seasonal demand.
“I would say that most of the growers aren’t actually involved in agriculture the rest of the year,” said Steve Sherman, who is president of the Maine Christmas Tree Association and runs a tree lot in the Aroostook County town of Oxbow.
Sherman said his organization primarily helps those landowners share management tips for the crops they only get a shot at selling once a year. The association also keeps an eye on legislative changes that might affect Christmas tree farmers’ seasonal businesses.
As far as industry statistics, Sherman said the sales total of about $1.3 million from The County in 2012 “surprises me a little bit.”
Ken Laustsen, a biometrician at the Maine Forest Service, said his agency doesn’t track Christmas tree harvesting specifically, but he noted that Aroostook County wasn’t the only area of the state to see a big boon from Christmas tree harvesting.
In the decade from 2002 to 2012, Kennebec County had the fastest growth in tree harvesting, up more than 300 percent to 24,776 trees. That increase came with a 32 percent growth in acres producing Christmas trees, boosting Kennebec to the 10th highest county regionally for Christmas tree sales.
Hancock County grew second-fastest in that decade, with 44 percent growth in Christmas tree-producing acreage over the same time period.
Similarly, the number of trees harvested in Hancock rose by about 251 percent, or 3,286 trees, to 4,595 trees in 2012.
Laustsen said the sharp spike in Kennebec County makes sense as the area is closer to the state’s population centers, but wholesale operations drive much of the economic activity around Christmas trees for places like Aroostook County.
But some of The County’s 43 producers sell many trees wholesale to other parts of the country, Sherman said.
While it’s not broken down specifically in the census figures, the numbers bear out that trend. Trees retail for about $25 to $35 bought directly from a farmer. To get to Maine’s $3.6 million in 2012 sales, that would require cutting and selling about 121,600 trees.
Rather, Maine sold about 488,000 trees in that year, meaning many sold for less.
Other sales channels are opening up for Maine trees, too. Jim Corliss, owner of Piper Mountain Farm in Newburgh, said his farm has a mail-order system to send trees to individual customers — who typically have a connection to Maine.
Nationally, Maine was ninth for total Christmas tree sales in 2012, far behind the high-producing states of Oregon and North Carolina, which had about 10 times the total sales, at $35 million and $33 million respectively.
But for the individual landowner, those numbers are hard to bring home. And Sherman said he thinks, with Christmas less than a week away, there’s still some tree shopping to come.
“Last weekend it was very busy,” he said, “but I don’t think we’re quite done.”