Sussex Christmas tree farmers estimate they’ve lost up to £80K after late frost and droughts stunt growth

Sussex Christmas tree farmers are fearing for the future after this year's extreme weather stunted growth - costing them up to £80,000.

A late frost, extremely hot summer, and several droughts have caused issues for Christmas trees this year with saplings dying and older trees having a stunted growth.

Ruth and James Wallis, who run Sutton Hall Farm near Lewes, East Sussex, say they planted 20,000 trees two years ago and every single one has died. The couple say they had tried putting fertilizer down, but without any rain the trees were unable to absorb it. Overall, James estimated they have lost £60,000 to £80,000 from the conditions, which will impact them in years to come.

The 53-year-old said: “We spent a lot of money putting those trees in the ground and nurturing them for two years. It is going to make for a very gappy harvest going forward. Seeing a lot of our young trees dying was quite painful. It is something that we will get over, but it is a worry, especially with escalating prices. Farmers are very resilient. We are just focusing on the trees we have got.”

Ruth and James started planting Christmas trees in 2017 after mostly being dairy farmers. They had some issues last year due to the droughts, where their trees weren’t as green as they would like, but things had mostly been smooth.

However, problems started when a particularly late frost in May this year killed all the new growth on the trees. This means they can only sell trees at a standard grade rather than a premium grade - cutting £15 from each one.

Then the farm was hit by intense heatwaves and “extreme” drought conditions. Ruth and James don’t have an irrigation licence, so they were unable to water the trees to counter this.

The 20,000 new trees they had planted cost £1.50 a tree, adding up to £30,000 down the drain from them alone. Trees set to be harvested this year were also impacted, with their harvest down 30 per cent on what they anticipated.

Ruth, 53, said: “The problem with Christmas trees is that they take about ten years to grow, so the problem will be about ten years down the line when those trees should be maturing and won’t be. It will have a major impact on our Christmas tree income. It has hit us very badly.

“Christmas tree growers all over the UK have suffered because of the drought. It is worrying. We have invested heavily in Christmas trees and at the moment the plan is to continue down that line.”

The farm managed to make a lot of hay in the summer which helped carry them over. Going forward, they are looking at water storage options to use water in a more efficient and effective way.

Ruth feels the government should be doing more to help struggling farmers such as putting forward grant funding for water storage.

She said: “Farming is in our blood, it is a way of life. It is what we do. It has certainly made us think more carefully about how we will grow Christmas trees and what we need to do to protect them. We believe that water is too precious a resource to put on what is a luxury item rather than a food source.”