Maple syrup season gets early start in parts of New England

EAST MONTPELIER, VT. » The annual maple season got off to another early start with warmups in parts of New England, and producers are hopeful the recent cold and snow will extend it.

Some producers in Vermont, the country’s largest producer of maple syrup, have been going strong and producing a fair amount since about mid-February, but historically the season has been later, said Matt Gordon, executive director of the Vermont Maple Sugar Producers Association.

“It’s a little disturbing that we’re starting so early. It’s getting to be the norm almost,” said Doug Bragg, of Bragg Family Farm Sugarhouse & Gift Shop in East Montpelier. “But the thing is that when it starts early, you know it’s going to get cold again, so you almost, so far, you get kind of two shots at it. It’s almost like a second little season,” he said while boiling sap in the sugar house last week.

It takes warm days and freezing nights for sap to flow in maple trees. But when temperatures get too high, the season abruptly ends with the appearance of buds on maple trees.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the maple season has started in early January in the past three years in Vermont but historically has started in late February. That’s largely due to technology such as tubing and vacuum sap collection systems that allow producers to take advantage of January and February thaws, said Gary Keough, state statistician with the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service in Concord, New Hampshire.