. >> farmer joe freeman. >> frasier fir is the most popular because of the overall appearance the strong branches, the smell. >> reporter: but it's what you cannot see on his 350,000-tree orchard that's ground-breaking. behind every tree, there is more than just farming these days, there's science and yes, even genetics, for what has become the definition of the perfect christmas tree in a first of its kind lab in north carolina state, justin leads a team of researchers on the cusp of creating super trees, christmas trees that grow in six years, instead of 10 is there an analog to what you're doing in the lab here? >> so we're developing the elite athlete of christmas trees, essentially. >> reporter: scientists extract dna, and at the molecular level pinpoint what allows some to grow faster than others. >> this is a clump of embryos or baby trees. >> reporter: embryos that are cloned and then grafted into saplings like many of those now growing on joe freeman's farm four decades of research finally paying off, just as climate change becomes an urgent challenge. >> we've got to be able to

. >> reporter: farmer joe freeman. >> well, fraser fir is the most popular because of the overall appearanceot see on his 350,000 tree orchard that's groundbreaking. behind every tree there is more than just farming. these days there is science, and yes, even genetics for what has become the definition of the perfect christmas tree in a first of its kind lab at north carolina state, justin whitehill leads a team of researchers on the cusp of creating super trees, christmas trees that grow in six years inside stead of ten. is there an analogy of what you're going in the lab here >> we're developing the elite athletes of christmas trees essentially. >> reporter: scientists extract dna and at the molecular level pinpoint what allows some to grow faster than others. >> this is a clump of embryos or baby trees. >> reporter: embryos what are cloned and then crafted into saab lings, like many of those now growing on joe freeman's farm four decades of research finally paying off, just as climate change becomes an urgent challenge. >> we've got to build a better tree so when we do have an early frost