Research focuses on keeping needles on Christmas trees

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – One of the main reasons that consumers say “bah, humbug” to a real Christmas tree is the mess that needles cause.

Researchers at North Carolina State University and other schools nationwide are researching ways to help Christmas trees keep their needles in hopes of making them more attractive to buyers.

The U.S. Agriculture Department awarded a five-year, $1.3 million grant for the research.

Christmas trees are a big business in the United States. The National Christmas Tree Association says almost 26 million real Christmas trees were sold in 2015 with a retail value of more than $1.3 billion,

The goal is to develop and use genomic tools to produce low-cost, high-quality trees with the properties that consumers want.

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