Bloomington Tree Farm Raises Prices Due To Climate Change, Demand

A local tree farm says climate change and increased demand prompted them to raise prices for the first time in 15 years.

Jeanne Hopwood is president of Twin H Tree Farms in Bloomington. She says local trees are getting harder and more expensive to grow each year.

"Those trees are costing me more than the trees I’m shipping in, because I lose so many and I work so hard at trying to keep them alive," Hopwood says.

She says hotter, wetter summers have increased the amount of fungus and insects in the area, which makes it harder for the trees to grow.

And Hopwood says traffic has increased at the farm this year after they had to close their Bedford location. She says the farm is bringing in trees from out of state to help meet the high demand.

Hopwood says the low supply means the farm is likely to run out of local trees before Christmas.

"We may run out before that final weekend, just for the fact that we do have added customers," Hopwood says.

Hopwood says the first weekend of December was the busiest so far, and the farm sold almost 300 trees on Sunday.