Christmas Trees were added to the federal agriculture census in 1997, when the responsibility for census shifted from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). The agriculture census is conducted every five years.

Two million farm and ranch operators furnished information for the 2002 census. USDA's census definition of a "farm" is any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the census year.

Key Findings about Christmas Trees for the Year 2002:

• 21,904 farms were producing conifers for the cut Christmas Tree market in America
• 446,996 acres were planted in Christmas Trees
• 13,849 farms harvested cut trees
• The top 5% of the farms (100 acres or more) sold 61% of the trees
• The top 26% of the farms (20 acres or more) sold 84% of the trees
• 21% of the farms were less than two acres and sold an average of 115 trees per farm

Who's Number 1?

What are the top states in Christmas Tree production? Not surprisingly, Oregon is the top producer in terms of number of trees harvested. However, state rankings vary depending on whether you focus on numbers of trees harvested, acres in production or number of farms.

State Rankings:

Ranked by Number of Trees Harvested in 2002

1	Oregon	6,466,551
2	North Carolina	2,915,507
3	Michigan	2,380,173
4	Pennsylvania	1,724,419
5	Wisconsin	1,605,981
6	Washington	1,164,139
7	New York	618,917
8	Virginia	507,791
9	Minnesota	463,885
10	California	383,940
11	Ohio	372,957
12	Indiana	186,303
13	Maine	164,406
14	Vermont	151,249
15	Tennessee	149,770
16	Illinois	144,008
17	Connecticut	133,861
18	New Jersey	132,458
19	New Hampshire	107,725
20	Maryland	99,183
21	Missouri	92,483
22	Georgia	80,952
23	Texas	80,914
24	Massachusetts	72,522
25	West Virginia	60,098
26	Iowa	57,254
27	Kentucky	56,473
28	Idaho	55,083
29	Montana	43,793
30	Louisiana	43,742
31	Mississippi	39,594
32	South Carolina	38,871
33	Alabama	35,670
34	Kansas	29,094
35	Nebraska	24,215
36	Rhode Island	23,085
37	Oklahoma	18,818
38	Arkansas	18,146
39	Delaware	16,183
40	Florida	15,320
41	Colorado	11,508
42	Hawaii	4,233
43	Utah	3,744
44	South Dakota	3,715
45	Wyoming	3,030
46	New Mexico	2,935
47	North Dakota	2,007
48	Arizona	(D)
49	Nevada	(D)
50	Alaska	0
Total U.S.		20,808,065

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