Maple syrup producers face challenges in warming world

Durham, N.H. — New Hampshire’s maple syrup producers say they are feeling the impact of climate change, as winters become warmer and frigid nights so critical to their business become fewer.

Producers joined climate experts and Democratic U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire on Tuesday to talk about the state’s changing climate and how it is affecting one of the state’s most important industries.

Some producers talked of seeing a steep drop in the amounts of sap they are getting, while others are dealing with another trend attributed to warmer temperatures in which the sap goes up to the top of the trees rather than down to taps. Others complained about a drop in the sugar content of their sap.

“When I purchased the farm in 2000, “I was getting 75 gallons of sap,” said Ray LaRoche of LaRoche Farm in Durham. “With the environmental changes we’ve been seeing, it’s down to 15 gallons. That’s a dramatic loss for us. And I don’t know what to do about it.”

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont produced 3.78 million gallons of syrup in 2016, according to a Northeast maple syrup production statistics service run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Vermont is the clear leader, alone producing more than 47 percent of the country’s maple syrup.

Hassan said the state’s changing climate can have dramatic effects on the natural resources that “define us as a state and are critical to our economy, our environment, and our way of life in New Hampshire.”

“Unfortunately, we are already seeing the real impacts of climate change on our economy — including on our maple syrup and ski industries,” she said, referring to warmer winters and a decline in snow cover.

The ideal temperatures for sap production are in the 20s at night and 30s and 40s during the day. When the climate is in the 50s and 60s during the day and the nights stay warm, sap runs not to the taps, but to the tops of the trees, causing the tree to bloom. That can lead to a cloudy and off-tasting product.

ELISE AMENDOLA/AP PHOTO Parker’s Maple Barn employee Kyle Gay pours maple tree sap into a larger bucket Tuesday in Brookline, N.H. U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., led a discussion with maple syrup producers in New Hampshire about how climate change is affecting their industry.