WOODFORD COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — According to drought.gov, over 95 percent of Kentucky experienced an abnormally dry October. The lack of rain can impact farmers crops, including Christmas trees, for the upcoming holiday season.
Michael Duckworth is a fifth-generation farmer. He grows various crops, including one iconic tree, the Canaan fir, better known as the Christmas tree. It's Duckworth's second year selling the trees.
"You have to baby these for quite some time before they're ready for the consumer to take them to their house," said Duckworth.
He said the project has been seven years in the making, and the lack of rain this year has been a stink in the mud for Duckworth. "
2024 has been a challenging year. We started really wet in the winter months. Lost a few due to too much moisture," said Duckworth. "Then, you get into May through the rest of the season, and we had a drought for about six weeks with no rain. And now in October, again, we had no rain."
Even though the grass appeared green and healthy this summer, Duckworth said that the moisture was only surface-deep after a little digging.
"Deep subsoil moisture is really, really dry," said Duckworth. "I mean, you get much below a foot, and it's just dust."
Duckworth said budgeting for the trees has to cover years of labor, care, and crop loss. This year, for Duckworth, the crop loss will be higher than normal.
"Just in the tree business, in 8 years we've been growing, we've had from 2% death loss to this year, right around 10%," said Duckworth.
Duckworth hopes to lower his losses with a little help from Mother Nature.
"The plants are amazingly resilient once a little water is added to them," said Duckworth. "They are a fairly deep-rooted crop compared to some other grasses. They will respond fairly well to the rains."
Duckworth is hopeful that, with the holiday season approaching, people can still find a tree that brings them joy.
