Steve Ottman was born to sell Christmas trees.

Ottman, 73, said his family has been growing the holiday staple in Wisconsin since the Great Depression.But now his 50-acre Christmas tree farm just outside of Belleville is in trouble.

Drought struck parts of the state earlier in 2025, killing nearly half of his young trees.”We’re not big enough that we can afford to irrigate, so we rely on the good lord to water our trees for us,” Ottman said.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, he’ll still be able to harvest and sell his older trees, but in the coming years, “we’ll definitely be short,” Ottman said.

Christmas tree farmers like Ottman around the country are dealing with drought, disease and damage from severe weather events – threats that are being exacerbated by climate change. But help is on the way: Researchers in North Carolina are working to produce genetically-superior Christmas trees that will not only withstand pests and disease, but also grow faster, be perfectly shaped and drop fewer needles around your house.

“There’s always room for improvement,” said Justin Whitehill, director of the Christmas Tree Genetics Program at North Carolina State University.

christmas trees face ‘perfect storm of mass mortality’

Drought was also an issue this year for Christmas tree growers in Michigan, one of the nation’s top Christmas tree-producing states, according to Bill Lindberg, an educator in Michigan State University Extension who works with farmers statewide.

Lindberg said his colleagues are working to develop strategies farmers can use when planting young trees, like mulching and irrigation, to protect them from the erratic precipitation patterns they expect to see more of in the future.

The Future of Christmas Trees: Breeding for Resilience

Christmas tree farms face increasing challenges from climate change and invasive pests. Researchers are actively working to breed more resilient trees to ensure a future filled with festive evergreens. These efforts focus on developing trees that can withstand warmer temperatures, increased drought, and new threats from insects and diseases.

The Threats to Christmas Trees

Climate change is altering growing conditions for Christmas trees. Warmer temperatures can stress trees, making them more susceptible to disease and insect infestations. Increased drought conditions also impact tree health and growth. Concurrently,invasive pests,like the balsam woolly adelgid,are expanding their range and causing notable damage to fir trees,a popular Christmas tree variety.

Perfecting the ‘Cadillac of Christmas trees’

To combat these threats, Whitehill and his team are working to create the perfect Fraser fir, a variety already known as the “Cadillac of Christmas trees.” Over the course of more then four decades, researchers have been selectively breeding the best of these firs to produce “elite” offspring, according to Whitehill, director of the Christmas Tree Genetics Program.

The team harvested cones from their elite seed orchard for the first time in 2025 and hope to distribute 500 pounds of seeds in the spring, Whitehill said. Though the genetically improved trees will grow faster than their standard counterparts, he said it’ll still take about a decade before they make it to consumers’ living rooms.

Key Takeaways

• Climate change and invasive pests pose significant threats to Christmas tree farms.
• Researchers are breeding Fraser firs for increased resilience to these threats.
• Genetically improved seeds will be available in the spring of 2025.
• It will take approximately ten years for these improved trees to reach consumers.

Forward-Looking Statement: The availability and impact of these genetically improved trees are subject to ongoing research, triumphant seed distribution, and favorable growing conditions. Continued monitoring of climate change and pest pressures will be crucial to assess the long-term effectiveness of these breeding programs.