Drought, age force local Christmas tree farm to close

November 25, 2012 at 5:00 a.m. | Updated November 25, 2012 at 5:00 a.m.

Jamie Coe checks out a 25-foot Norway spruce tree that died on his Christmas tree farm this summer during a prolonged drought. A combination of approaching retirement and the drought has forced Coe to close his farm south of Fulton, Mo.
Jamie Coe checks out a 25-foot Norway spruce tree that died on his Christmas tree farm this summer during a prolonged drought. A combination of approaching retirement and the drought has forced Coe to close his farm south of Fulton, Mo.

For 23 years, Coe's Tree Farm south of Fulton was a holiday tradition to many Callaway County families. But age and drought have combined to put an abrupt end to Jamie Coe's six-acre Christmas tree farm on County Road 102 just south of Fulton.

"I have closed my tree farm. The drought really hit hard this summer. I am nearing retirement, and I wanted to quit my tree farm operation anyway," Coe said.

Coe said all of the trees he planted during ....

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