How was sugaring?  It depends

by Matthew Wilson

The trees have begun to bud and the snowpacks are melted on all but the highest ridgelines, and for maple sugaring operations that means the short season is at an end.  Across the state, the experiences are peculiar in that they are particular to each producer.  No makers had the same experience as their neighbors, and it seems that the ones who took advantage of early conditions may have made out best.

Allison Hope, executive director of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association said that the experience of producers this year could be summed up in two words, “it depends.”

“It depends on where sugar makers were in the state when they first tapped,” Ms. Hope said.  “Southern sugar makers did well.  They were pretty close to an average crop despite a storm near Christmas that damaged some sugarbushes.”

In the north, it seems to have been a bit of an odd year.

“The reports are kind of all over the place,” Ms. Hope said.  While some producers got 50 to 60 percent an average yield, others were able to get 75 to 90 percent of the usual syrup. …

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