How sweet it is: Maine maple producers tapped into a syrup boom this year

Outcomes from this yr’s maple syruping season present Maine manufacturing soared 31% over the 2021 complete and 14% above the 2020 quantity.

Maple producers in Maine turned out 672,000 gallons of the gooey candy stuff, in accordance with information launched Friday by the U.S. Division of Agriculture. This yr’s season ran from March 4 to April 9.

The full positioned Maine No. 3 amongst six states the place syrup is produced, in accordance with the USDA. Vermont, No. 1, was chargeable for 2.55 million gallons, roughly half of all U.S. syrup, whereas 845,000 gallons got here from New York.

Nationwide, manufacturing was up 35% over final yr’s and 22% above the 2020 complete.

Productiveness was up as effectively. In Maine, every maple faucet yielded a median of 0.341 gallons of syrup this yr, in comparison with 0.262 gallons in 2021 and 0.299 gallons in 2020.

Maine producers harvest maple sap from 1,970 faucets a yr, out of roughly 14,000 used throughout the U.S.

Maine is dwelling to greater than 550 makers of maple syrup and associated merchandise. The companies present roughly 800 full-time and part-time jobs. This yr, for the primary time because the begin of the pandemic, the state’s sugarhouses celebrated the harvest by opening their doorways on Maine Maple Sunday, March 27, to hundreds of maple-mad guests.

Nonetheless, solely a small portion of Maine’s maple gross sales are retail: 6% final yr and three% in 2020, in accordance with the federal information, by far the bottom proportion in any state. Maine offered 82% of all manufacturing final yr in bulk portions and 91% the yr earlier than.

The state’s manufacturing is value about $20 million yearly, however a money worth for the 2022 season hasn’t but been decided.