Who knew? Wisconsin is 5th largest Christmas tree grower

Mike Paulus |

Hey! Apparently, Christmas trees are a Wisconsin cash crop – we’re the nation’s fifth largest grower. Whilst buying a tree, shame on me, I’ve never really thought about where it comes from – I’ve always just assumed it was grown somewhere relatively nearby. But this year, I’m going to ask how local it is. Obviously, if you go out to a tree farm to purchase your Symbol of Holiday Goodness, it’s a local commodity, but those tree lots? You better ask or you might get stuck with a tree from Pennsylvania or some crap like that. Read:

  • The state is the fifth-leading producer of Christmas trees in the United States. Only Oregon, North Carolina, Michigan and Pennsylvania produce more.
  • More than 1.8 million trees, grown on nearly 1,400 farms encompassing 36,000 acres are harvested in Wisconsin each year. Christmas trees are a major part of the state's agricultural commerce, pumping more than $50 million into the state economy each holiday season.
  • "Buying a real Wisconsin Christmas tree does a lot of good things," says Cheryl O'Brien, the 62nd Wisconsin Alice in Dairyland, who is also a spokesperson for the state's agricultural industry. "Buying a Wisconsin-grown Christmas tree helps support our local farmers, producers, communities, economies, and all Wisconsin agriculture." (via asseeninwi.com via onmilwaukee.com)

This much is true: if the 62nd Wisconsin Alice in Dairyland says something, I believe it.