Season Summaries

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Season Update #3: Vermont and everywhere else off to fast start

Peter Gregg | March 3, 2023

St. ALBANS, Vt.—A gangbuster start.

Sugarmakers in Vermont have been smiling about the big February runs and some halfway decent sap to start off March.

“We’ve boiled three times already and are at probably 10 percent of a crop,” said Sean Connor of Connor Maple in St. Albans, Vt. during the annual Governor’s Tree Tapping Ceremony hosted by the farm on Friday.

Gov. Phil Scott was on hand to drill the ceremonial first tree and hang a sap bucket to kick off the maple season in the Green Mountain State. The event was organized by the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association.

Connor said the farm started drilling its 9,000 taps in early February and caught the early runs, happy to get the leaks checked and the lines tight in time for the weird—or maybe not-so-weird anymore—February warm-up.

“My grandma always said to tap around St. Patrick’s Day but you can’t do that anymore,” Connor said. [ MORE ]

Season Update #2: Fast start sends sugarmakers scrambling

Peter Gregg | February 16, 2023

BURLINGTON, Conn.—A monster early sap run and unseasonably warm weather has sugarmakers scrambling and scratching their heads.

“It’s been an odd season,” said 5,600-tap sugarmaker Rob Lamothe of Lamothe’s Sugar House in Burlington, Conn. during a visit from The Maple News on Wednesday, when temperatures hit 65 degrees.

“It’s been abnormally warm and we're not getting freezing nights ahead. It should not be this warm,” Lamothe said.

Lamothe has been making syrup for more than 50 years and said the weather patterns have changed.

“It used to be we would’ve never tapped a tree before Washington’s birthday and now if you’re not tapped by February 1 you lose a third of your crop,” he said.

Lamothe’s neighbor, Ray Kasulaitis of Barkhamsted, Conn. said the season might be over before it even got started.

“Trees are already started to bud out,” he told The Maple News on Wednesday.

In Berlin, N.Y. longtime sugaring partners Kent Goodermote and Todd Hewitt, who have been making syrup for 48 seasons, were getting ready for their first boil of the season on Wednesday.

Earlier than normal they said, but when the season is here, it's here. [ MORE ]

Season Update #1: A big January and a big week coming

Peter Gregg | February 2, 2023

WILLIAMSBURG, Mass.—Drills have been humming this week and a lot of syrup was made during one of the warmest Januarys in recorded history.

Following a forecasted deep freeze this weekend in the east, a warm up next week could get the trees juicing, sugarmakers say.

“We’re going to be drilling and getting as many in as we can before the run starts next week, possibly even Monday,” said Keith Dufresne of Dufresne’s Sugarhouse in Williamsburg, Mass., during a visit from The Maple News on Thursday. “We had a lot of downed trees to get to first.”

Dufresne on Thursday was like a lot of sugarmakers who were looking at their phones and seeing a week ahead of many freezing nights and temps in the mid-40s, shaping up to be the first bona fide sap run of the 2023 season.

That is not to say that a lot of syrup has not already been made—much has. [ MORE ]

U.S. sugarmakers break production record in 2022

Peter Gregg | June 11, 2022

CONCORD, N.H.—The U.S. maple syrup crop was a record breaking 5.028 million gallons in 2022, the USDA reported, smashing the old record of 4.1 million gallons set in 2020.

Leading the way was Vermont, which made more than half the U.S. total with 2.55 million gallons, up 46 percent from the previous year, the USDA said.

New York was second in the nation, with 845,000 gallons made. Maine was third with 672,000 gallons; Wisconsin was 4th with 440,000 and Michigan 5th at 190,000.

Other states surveyed were New Hampshire at 167,000 and Pennsylvania at 164,000. [ MORE ]

Quebec’s maple crop the biggest in history

Peter Gregg | June 10, 2022

LONGUEUIL, Que.—Quebec’s 2022 maple syrup crop is the biggest in history, by a lot.

The Québec Maple Syrup Producers federation today announced the harvest in the province was an estimated 211.2 million pounds, smashing the old production record of 175 million pounds, set in 2020.

The production average was a yield of 4.26 pounds per tap in 2022, the federation said.
[ MORE ]

Season Update #8: Big sugarmakers closing out strong; big U.S. crop forecast

Peter Gregg | April 25, 2022

FAIRFIELD, Vt.—Some sugarmakers are holding on this week for the last drop of sap in what is shaping up to be a big U.S. crop.

“If you got tight vacuum you can make it through this warm weather,” said 110,000-tap sugarmaker Gary Corey on Friday during a tour for The Maple News of his sugarhouse in Fairfield, Vt.

Corey, who sugars with wife Danielle, was expecting to still get sap through the early part of this week.

As of Friday, the pair were at 71,000 gallons of syrup made. [ MORE ]

Season Update #7: Looks to be a big crop in the U.S.

Peter Gregg | April 12, 2022

ISLAND POND, Vt.—The U.S. maple season of 2022 is shaping up to be a whopper.

A two-week charge of sap at the end of March into early April created what for many is full crop and for some far beyond.

“Altogether the U.S. has a much bigger crop than last year. Perhaps 50 percent larger overall,” said Bruce Bascom of Bascom Maple Farms in Alstead, N.H. and one of the premier bulk syrup buyers in the U.S.

Bascom said the dominant color grade this season Amber.

In most of the northern areas of the Maple Belt, producers were enjoying big sap runs.

“As of now sir I can tell you that this year has topped the last close to five or maybe even better,” said Brent Bagwell, a woods manager for the massive SapJack operation in Island Pond, Vt. who is in charge of a 160,000-tap sugarbush there. [ MORE ]

Season Update #6: Big runs and low sugar in the Northeast

Peter Gregg | March 28, 2022

BENSON, Vt.—Sugarmakers in the Northeast were happy for a cold weather reset this week, after a six day run.

“I’m hoping we get recharged with a good hard freeze,” said Jeff Disorda of Rocky Ridge Sugarworks in Benson, Vt. on Sunday.

Temperatures were dipping into the teens and a dusting of snow coated sugar bushes early Monday.

Disorda said he had surpassed last year’s production, making 600 gallons so far off his 1,500 taps.

But his sugar content was dropping to low levels, as low as 1.2 percent sugar this weekend, after a season of low test sap.

“The best we had this season was 1.8,” Disorda said.
[ MORE ]