An article in The Oregonian reports that the state's 750 Christmas tree farmers are either cutting and shipping trees, or preparing for the post-Thanksgiving crowds of customers who visit farms to cut their own trees. This season, the wholesale Christmas tree harvest should be worth $110 million; that makes these holiday trees the 10th-largest agricultural commodity in Oregon.
The article notes that Christmas trees cover 65,000 acres in Oregon, ranging from five-acre hobby ranches to the 8,500 acres of Corvallis-based Holiday Tree Farm, the nation's largest producer at 1 million trees annually. This year, consumers across the U.S. are expected to purchase 32 million Christmas trees.
Holiday-Themed "CPI"
Each month, the Oregon Employment Department publishes the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data. Today several news outlets, including USA Today, reported on the latest Christmas Price Index, published each year by PNC Wealth Management. This "CPI" tracks the prices for all the items listed in the "Twelve Days of Christmas" carol. While regular CPI rose by 2.1 percent in the 12 months before September 2011, the Christmas Price Index jumped by 6.1 percent.
To buy your true love everything listed in the carol will set you back a total of $107,000. Six items in the Christmas CPI have maintained the same price since last year. The maids-a-milking, ladies dancing, lords-a-leaping, calling birds, turtle doves, and partridge carry the same price tags as in 2011. Other items saw large increases: the price of geese rose by almost 30 percent; swan prices rose by 11 percent; the five gold rings cost 16 percent more; and the price of a pear tree rose by 12 percent.
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