By Cole Lauterbach/Illinois Radio Network

SPRINGFIELD – Nationally, real Christmas trees are on the decline. The volume being cut compared with artificial trees more fell by half in the last decade. A local grower said there may be fewer farms than in the past, but said his farm and others in Illinois are booming.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the total number of Christmas trees harvested in Illinois in 2002 was 144,008, but by 2012, that number dropped to 65,937. Total acreage of tree farms in Illinois was 6,355 in 2002, vs. 2,818 in 2012. The total number of tree farms in the U.S. fell from 14,677 to 12,976 in that same 10-year period.

Rob Richardson, of Richardson Christmas Tree Farm and president of the Illinois Christmas Tree Growers group, said some tree farms have gone out of business but said most of his group’s members are expanding.

“The sales of Christmas trees is just as good as it ever has been,” he said. “We might even break a record here.”

Richardson said tree farms like his own near the suburbs will go out of business because it’s more lucrative to build on this land.

“After a while, it becomes harder to maintain a Christmas tree business when there’s growing pressure for development.”

Richardson said his primary sources of income are tree sales in the early winter and a corn maze in the fall months. Oregon unsurprisingly harvested the most Christmas trees in 2012, with more than 6 million cut. North Carolina was second, with 4.2 million.