Christmas tree farm owner talks inflation

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - It’s that time of year when people are searching for the perfect Christmas tree.

The folks over at Calandro’s Christmas Trees in Baton Rouge have been in business for more than 60 years.

Since they opened the week of Nov. 21, Raymond Calandro has been busy cutting and selling trees to families across the area. This year, the search for that special piece of Christmas may be a bit more expensive.

“Typically, Friday, Saturday, Sunday after Thanksgiving is our biggest weekend and then it tails off from there,” said Calandro.

According to the executive director of the American Christmas Tree Association, shoppers will see anywhere from 5% to 20% increases across the board on artificial and live Christmas trees.

The increase in costs follows inflation, supply chain disruptions, fear of a recession, and losses from previous pandemic-affected years.

“Bigger trees are the shortage, and it basically stemmed from 10 to 12 years ago when everyone was going artificial. The farmers basically didn’t want to plant as many trees, so it takes 10 to 12 years to grow a tree. A shortage of big trees, and all people want is big trees,” explained Calandro.

He added everything should be back to normal within the next few years.

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