Maple Syrup Producers Optimistic Following Mild Winter

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Created on Friday, 04 March 2016 14:21

Written by Dylan Robichaud

Vermont- After a very unseasonably warm Vermont Winter, Vermont maple syrup producers are optimistic as there season begins.

The ideal conditions for sap to run is when the temperature dips below the freezing mark at night, and then rises to the 40’s and 50’s during the day. Although this winter has been warm, Maple syrup producers say the weather is impeccable for their job.   

“The forecast looks like we could make a lot of syrup,” said Jake Hutchins from Jakes Maple Syrup in Burke. “We’ve already made 300-gallons of maple syrup this year, we started a little over a week ago and the long range forecast looks stellar, “Hutchins said. 

This is a relief for some Maple syrup producers after a rough winter last year, where Vermont maple syrup producers had trouble tapping trees because of the knee deep snow that lasted through part of March

“Last year we produced 1,028 gallons, and that has been our lowest since 2009,” said Mary-Gene Fradette, who works for Fredrick’s Maple Syrup in Hardwick. “The overnight temperatures back in March of 2009 were only 35-40 so it wasn’t conducive enough,” Fradette told me. 

One of the reasons why a busy winter can mean a rough spring for syrup producing is because it makes tapping harder.

“Last year we were drilling 350-400 holes a day, and this year we were averaging over 500 holes a day, so it saves me a bunch of labor,” said Hutchins who expects to start boiling next week. 

Keith Gadapee, who works for the Caledonian Sugar Makers Association, also taps 7,000 trees of his own in Danville. He says that he is ready to get the season underway. 

“We started late last year. We didn’t make any syrup until April. Usually we make Syrup in March and April, and I think we’ll be making it next week,” Gadapee said. 

But Gadapee isn’t counting his earnings yet, he says if the weather stops cooperating then he’ll run into problems in a hurry. 

“We need a freeze thaw condition; we need that fluctuation in temperature in order to make a lot of syrup. If it all of a sudden stays warm and doesn’t freeze again, then that’s bad for us,” Gadapee said. 

And maple farmers who have been in the industry all their life are noticing a staggering correlation between when sap used to start running, and when it runs now. 

“Years ago Town Meeting Day is when you started tapping. Now we tap the beginning of February,” Fradette said. “My guess is Global Warming has something to do with it.”