New York CNN Business —In the spirit of holiday cheer, here’s the good news first: Christmas tree farms say this year’s harvest looks good and they don’t expect shortages. The industry group Real Christmas Tree Board in August surveyed 55 wholesale growers of Christmas trees who account for about two-thirds of the nationwide supply. US Christmas tree farms say they don't expect shortages of real trees this holiday season but shoppers should prepare to spend more for them this year. Courtesy Real Christmas Tree BoardAt the store level, larger retail chains might be able to absorb some of the price increase, but they will likely need to pass some of those costs on to shoppers. They told us that they do expect to pay more for trees because of overall inflation but that they’re still going to buy their tree,” said Marsha Gray, executive director of the Real Christmas Tree Board.

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