Each day because the timber have been planted has been a roll of the cube.

In contrast to commodities like corn and soybeans, which Mr. Wyckoff grows on one other 90 acres he owns, there isn’t any good solution to insure Christmas timber in opposition to the hurt brought on by excessive climate, or the consequences of an abroad conflict or a pandemic that freezes provide chains, he added.

“Farmers are the largest gamblers there are,” Mr. Wyckoff, 57, mentioned. His household has been rising Christmas timber in Belvidere, N.J., a couple of 90-minute drive from Midtown Manhattan, since his grandfather began the enterprise within the Nineteen Fifties.

Christmas timber develop slowly, about 12 to 14 inches a 12 months, and may take 10 years to go from seed to reap. Most timber he vegetation are 3 to five years previous by the point he buys them from nurseries.

To maintain up with prices, Mr. Wyckoff raised the worth of his timber this 12 months to $15 a foot, or $105 for a seven-foot tree, up from $14 a foot final 12 months. A decade in the past, related timber offered for $10 a foot, he mentioned. The timber he sells embody the favored Fraser fir, the Norway Spruce and the Canaan and Douglas firs.

Regardless of the dangers, the timber stay Mr. Wyckoff’s most worthwhile crop. He expects to promote 7,000 this 12 months, up from 5,000 final 12 months.

“We’re presently in a growth interval,” mentioned Tim O’Connor, the manager director of the Nationwide Christmas Tree Affiliation. Provide was tight earlier than the pandemic, after which demand soared for timber prospects might decide and lower themselves open air.

Nationally, there have been 15,000 Christmas tree farms with gross sales of over $376 million in 2017, in line with the most recent out there federal knowledge. Bert Cregg, a horticulture professor at Michigan State College and business knowledgeable, mentioned farmers could make a 50 p.c revenue on every tree. Mr. Wyckoff mentioned his revenue was nearer to twenty p.c a tree.

Some prices have grown sharply for Wyckoff’s Christmas Tree Farm. Almost all of Mr. Wyckoff’s gear runs on diesel gas; he paid $4.70 a gallon this 12 months, up from $2.36 in 2018.

Local weather change provides to the chance that he might lose enormous swaths of timber. Of the ten,000 he planted this 12 months, 5,500 have been misplaced to drought and flooding. That value him a minimum of $27,500. In a typical 12 months, he may lose 5 to 10 p.c of his new timber.

The work is relentless. The farm has three full-time workers however a rotating forged of as much as 40 seasonal employees throughout busy intervals. Three massive mowers ($20,000 every) lower down weeds each season, timber are pruned twice a 12 months and pests and illness are monitored day by day.

Mr. Wyckoff mentioned he saved cash by hiring highschool college students, getting assist from native hunters and recruiting members of the family. His spouse, Leslie, does accounting, his aunt Judy likes to mow and his 23-year-old son, Johnny, additionally works the farm.

The household’s timber have received awards in nationwide competitions and have adorned the White Home, Mr. Wyckoff mentioned. The household has met Michelle Obama and former Vice President Mike Pence and his spouse.

Though Mr. Wyckoff and business consultants have some issues in regards to the danger of one other downturn if demand drops, enterprise is nice for now.

Hector Ruiz, 75, not too long ago drove from Stuyvesant City in Manhattan seeking a Fraser fir. He left with a tree shy of 5 toes tall. Many of the larger ones have been offered out.

“However I’m coming again for these timber proper there,” he mentioned, pointing to firs nonetheless within the floor and reserved for subsequent 12 months.

Produced by Eden Weingart, Andrew Hinderaker and Dagny Salas. Improvement by Gabriel Gianordoli and Aliza Aufrichtig.