Maple producers weather unpredictable season

This was another unpredictable season for Maine’s maple syrup producers, and though many came out in good shape this year, they don’t expect things to even out soon.

Sap began flowing in mid-February across the state. In northern Maine, that’s a month earlier than it ever has before,  said Jason Lilley, who works with maple syrup producers through the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.

The state is the third largest producer of maple syrup in the nation, and 450 operations are licensed to sell maple products here. Maine produced 470,000 gallons of syrup last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Maine Maple Sunday, on the fourth weekend in March, was traditionally the start of the season in Somerset County, the source of 90 percent of the state’s harvest.

After a rough start, yields were closer to an average year’s, Lilley said. Final numbers will be released by U.S. Department of Agriculture in June.

The sap run may soon become broken up into three or four smaller seasons, according to Lyle Merrifield, a producer in Gorham and president of the Maine Maple Syrup Producer’s Association.

“Certainly, we’re all learning to adapt to a new type of season,” he said. “It’s not what it used to be. It’s long and sporadic now.”

If the weather had not steadied, large operations would have been at serious risk, according to Lilley.

Warmer winters aren’t the only factor. Dry summers and fluctuations throughout the year can stress trees too, and the extension is studying those impacts. This year, a narrow range of temperatures meant that some trees even in the same town might have had vastly different yields.

Sap yields were up but sugar content was down across the state, meaning it took more sap to produce the same syrup. For people boiling their sap traditionally, that could be an increased cost.

Many producers today use reverse osmosis systems, and won’t lose a lot of money running it longer, Merrifield said. By his estimate, three-quarters or more of Maine’s hobbyist producers even use these systems.

Some producers are concerned about the future, while an equal amount say the season has always been at the whims of Mother Nature, according to Lilley.

Merrifield has seen the changes coming on over the past decade, and especially over the past five. But producers adapt and prepare for changes, and he’s optimistic.

“In any case, a maple syrup producer is a hardy type of person, and they’re going to figure it out,” he said.