The new bulletin provides an overview of the challenges of a changing climate and options for mitigating these problems.
Much of Michigan has experienced an unusually warm winter of 2023. An early spring is on the horizon, with record-breaking warm weather likely for Michigan in late February. A changing climate continues to affect agriculture, including Christmas tree production.
Climate refers to weather patterns observed over longer periods of time, such as years and decades, while day-to-day or season-to-season variations in temperature or precipitation are defined as weather. Based on observed changes and model projections of future climate, we understand that our climate is changing significantly in many locations. The rate of change is affected by human activities that have released gases into the atmosphere. These “greenhouse gases” retain more energy than the sun, increasing the surface temperature on Earth and creating a range of effects on our climate.
To prepare Christmas tree growers across the Midwest for these changes, the MSU Extension Christmas Tree team partnered with the United States Department of Agriculture's Midwest Climate Hub and Washington State University to create a bulletin on the impacts of climate change in the production of Christmas trees. The paper The Climate Change Impacts on Christmas Tree Production in the Midwestern Region discusses:
- Changes in temperature, precipitation, growing season length, and freeze date climatology were observed and predicted.
- How the climate of the future will affect the production of Christmas trees due to:
- Changes in insect and disease pressure
- Challenges to growth and survival of young and mature trees
- Challenges of a warmer harvest season on tree needle retention
- Challenges to soil productivity from erosion and compaction forces
The bulletin also lists specific management steps growers can implement to mitigate the impact these challenges will have on their Christmas tree farms. For example, climate models predict wetter springs, but hotter and drier summers. To reduce stress on young seedlings, many growers must install irrigation or add mulch to increase tree survival.
See the new bulletin (E3489), Impacts of Climate Change on Christmas Tree Production in the Midwestern Region.
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