While the drought has cost many different industries hundreds of millions of dollars in profits, once industry has seen the effects, but has yet to see the economic impact.
Trees got a shake-up this year.
John Tidwell clips and cuts his way through his Dallas County field of assorted Christmas trees, getting ready for his second season of selling.
Tidwell does it all by hand.
"I almost know them all individually," he says. "I can walk up to this tree and it wants to be tall and fat and the next one wants to be short and skinny."
While he's worked with some of these trees for almost a decade, Tidwell is only in his sophomore year on the selling side, and is finding out that it's not that simple.
"I thought it sounded easy," he says. "You plant a tree and seven years later you sell it."
But the weather conditions have not been cooperating with his original vision.
"It's the first time I've had a real hard drought like this," he says. "Basically every tree in this field should be a foot taller. So I don't have the 7 and 8-feet trees like they want."
In tree language, feet means money.
"Translates into thousands of dollars in lost revenue."
Tidwell's farm has just over 2,500 trees, so any kind of drought can have a pretty large effect on their operation.
But not everybody's farm is this small.
"Even on a farm with 25,000 trees sitting on 30 acres, the drought is still very evident."
Bobbie McAlpine may not know every one of the 2,000 trees she sells a year individually, but she does see the remnants of a season with extreme heat and no rain everywhere.
"This is only 3 inches of growth, when it should be 6 to 8," she says.
In just one plot on her and her husbands farm in Bismark, the McAlpines lost 52 percent of their crop.
"Our son called us and said we're losing lots of trees," she said. "The trees turned real real yellow."
So when its 95-105 outside in September, the trees are dying and the ones that live don't grow.
But there has to be something that keeps the McAlpines spraying:
"The kids running through the field saying, 'no this tree, no this tree,'" McAlpine reflects, "it's well worth it."
"Finding my Christmas tree was the funnest part of Christmas to me," says Tidwell.
So when it comes to shaking down and bagging up a real tree, as a result of the drought, your perfect tree might be harder to come by this year.
If you're interested in chopping down your own tree this year, click here for a list from the Arkansas Christmas Tree Growers Association.
Trees got a shake-up this year.
John Tidwell clips and cuts his way through his Dallas County field of assorted Christmas trees, getting ready for his second season of selling.
Tidwell does it all by hand.
"I almost know them all individually," he says. "I can walk up to this tree and it wants to be tall and fat and the next one wants to be short and skinny."
While he's worked with some of these trees for almost a decade, Tidwell is only in his sophomore year on the selling side, and is finding out that it's not that simple.
"I thought it sounded easy," he says. "You plant a tree and seven years later you sell it."
But the weather conditions have not been cooperating with his original vision.
"It's the first time I've had a real hard drought like this," he says. "Basically every tree in this field should be a foot taller. So I don't have the 7 and 8-feet trees like they want."
In tree language, feet means money.
"Translates into thousands of dollars in lost revenue."
Tidwell's farm has just over 2,500 trees, so any kind of drought can have a pretty large effect on their operation.
But not everybody's farm is this small.
"Even on a farm with 25,000 trees sitting on 30 acres, the drought is still very evident."
Bobbie McAlpine may not know every one of the 2,000 trees she sells a year individually, but she does see the remnants of a season with extreme heat and no rain everywhere.
"This is only 3 inches of growth, when it should be 6 to 8," she says.
In just one plot on her and her husbands farm in Bismark, the McAlpines lost 52 percent of their crop.
"Our son called us and said we're losing lots of trees," she said. "The trees turned real real yellow."
So when its 95-105 outside in September, the trees are dying and the ones that live don't grow.
But there has to be something that keeps the McAlpines spraying:
"The kids running through the field saying, 'no this tree, no this tree,'" McAlpine reflects, "it's well worth it."
"Finding my Christmas tree was the funnest part of Christmas to me," says Tidwell.
So when it comes to shaking down and bagging up a real tree, as a result of the drought, your perfect tree might be harder to come by this year.
If you're interested in chopping down your own tree this year, click here for a list from the Arkansas Christmas Tree Growers Association.
