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2 NEWS The Commons • May 2010 The Commons • May 2010 NEWS 3
STATE AND COUNTY
Maple producers:
season was not so bad
Farmers say warmer, shorter season was tougher
in southern Vermont than in the northern counties
By Katy Cowen
The Commons
Maple sugaring season has
ended for the year, with
mixed reactions among
producers about the effect
the weather had on the crop.
Though media reports at the end
of the season generally painted the
season as catastrophic for farmers in
face of the early arrival of spring and
the lack of freezing temperatures at
night in the later half of the season,
local reaction was varied.
“Overall, producers have been saying
this has been a very good year,”
said Kelly Loftus, communications
director at the Vermont Agency of
Agriculture of the season that both
started and ended unusually early.
Doug Harlow’s observations were
more measured.
“This season was spotty — some
people did better than others,” said
Harlow, one of many family members
who work on the family farm at
Harlow’s Sugar House in Putney, and
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the son of its owner, Don. “We consider
ourselves lucky. It wasn’t an average
crop, but it was close.”
“There’s always about three generations
on the farm,” he says, and every
member who can is working and
preparing for the crops of a new year.
“We’re always anxious for the maple
sugaring season, because it’s the first
real agricultural crop of the year.”
“This season was good, an average
crop,” said Arnold Coombs, manager
of Bascom Family Farms, the
parent company of Coombs Family
Farms and Brown Family Farms., all
in Brattleboro.
“Usually, you’ll have three or four
days of a good run, three to four days
of freezing, then another good run,”
said Coombs, who serves as chairman
of the Vermont Maple Industry
Council.
This season, though, “there was a
little bit every day…it kept going. It
was long, and then finally just ended.”
Farms that produce maple syrup in
southern Vermont were “off,” Coombs
says, but farms in the northern part
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of the state had about an average crop
because it was a little cooler in higher
elevations; the season was longer.
Verdict still out
“Stories are still coming in from
the woods,” said Jacques Couture, coowner
of Couture’s Maple Shop and
Bed and Breakfast in Westfield, near
the Canadian border, with his wife,
Pauline. “I’m hedging when I say this.”
Couture, who serves as president
of the Vermont Maple Foundation,
said that at the 44th annual Vermont
Maple Festival in St. Albans in May,
producers will be able to exchange stories
about the season and foundation
members will be able to “get a better
feel of how the crop actually turned
out,” he says.
Until then, he echoed Coombs’s
observations about the disparity between
southern and northern Vermont
climates and the effects on the season.
“Of course, there are exceptions,
because there are differences in different
regions. I’ve talked to a guy who
produces about 12 miles south of us,
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Technology like vacuum tubing helped some maple producers
cope with an unusually warm season. Despite dire predictions,
farmers, the state Agency of Agriculture, and state trade
association leaders say the results were not as grim as widely
reported.
and he said this is the best crop he’s
had in 30 years.,’ Couture said. “And
if someone is using up-to-date vacuum
systems, then the crop was better.”
Location and different weather
conditions aren’t the only factors that
cause differences in yields; technology
used in gathering syrup also makes a
big contribution.
“If you’re using vacuum tubing,
you’re getting a good amount of sap,”
Coombs pointed out.
For Couture’s 7,500 tap operation,
the crop was about average, as
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he guesses it was .
In the Windham County area, says
Coombs, some farmers don’t have
enough product to meet market demands
for syrup. They might buy from
northern Vermont sellers just to fill
their orders.
Early runs
Many farms found the early start of
the season a save with the early arrival
of spring weather and temperatures.
“Getting tapped out early helped,
because we had those early runs. We
tapped out Washington’s birthday
weekend,” Harlow said. “This season
started early. We made about a third
of what we made this season between
Washington’s Birthday weekend and
March 1.”
Harlow’s brother, who works in
higher elevations on his own farm,
however, didn’t tap as early because of
the colder temperatures and the snow.
The variation in crop yield is typical.
“You know, it’s the 20-80 rule: usually
20 percent of the farmers make 80
percent of the syrup,” Coombs said.
More people boiling
“The technology available for producing
is making it easier to tap trees,
and making it easier for new people
to tap.” She says this is particularly
true for “backyard, hobby maple
producing.”
“There are many new operations,”
says Couture. “In this area, I’ve seen
about 17,000 new taps between four
new operations. There was a sparked
interest because of the shortage of
maple syrup in past years.”
A shortage of maple syrup production
can result in a spike in maple
syrup commodity prices.
After a time of low prices — about
$2.50-$2.75 per pound — the shortage
of the 2007 and 2008 seasons
caused the price to jump. Between
Christmas of 2008 and the maple sugaring
season of 2009, prices jumped
45 percent to $44 per gallon, or $4
per pound.
Couture said the high prices served
as a catalyst for an increase in new
operations.
“You know, if there’s a segment of
agriculture where farmers can make
a dollar, especially with the economy,
and a lot of people have had their jobs
cut back, they’re going to take advantage
of a crop like that,” he said.
Finishing up
Most farmers finished their season
by cleaning and putting away equipment.
For the Harlow Family Farm,
though, this process takes a back seat
to the preparation for the approach
of other crops.
“We’re really doing two or three
things at a time. We grow strawberries,
blueberries, raspberries, and apples,”
said Harlow.
Cleaning up after sugaring season
usually doesn’t happen for a while
because other tasks get in the way.
“When you’re a small farm, you can’t
hang your hat on one crop, because if
that crop doesn’t go well…” Harlow
said, leaving the obvious unspoken.
Couture, like many other maple
sugar farmers, is also a dairy farmer,
a combination that lets farmers use
more of their resources.
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The economics of sugaring
By Katy Cowen
The Commons
Maple sugar farmers are still assessing
the market — the impact this
year’s statistics will have on prices.
Actual prices for this year’s season
are provided by farmers throughout
the United States and in Canada;
total numbers and prices specific to
Vermont can be found in the New
England Agricultural Statistics 2010
Report, due in June.
Arnold Coombs, chairman of the
Vermont Maple Industry Council,
predicts that prices will stay where
they are; Kelly Loftus, public information
officer for the Vermont Agency
of Agriculture, says that prices in
Vermont are up.
Jacques Couture, president of the
Vermont Maple Foundation, speculates
that prices for retail will hold
steady, as he sees “no reason for prices
to change much.” But on the commodity
level, he thinks there will be a
“slight reduction” in prices.
“I say slight because, as I’ve been
hearing through the grapevine, I’m
getting a sense that buyers are holding
off, not rushing to buy too much,” he
said. “They want to see what the crop
actually was before they start buying.
They don’t want to pay more than
they have to.”
Canadian market
influences prices
Many factors go into predicting
how prices will fluctuate: the local
economy, total production numbers
in the maple sugar industry, market
demands and trends, and the dynamics
of the Canadian crop.
According to Canada’s Honey
are maple,” Couture said. “There’s
a good likelihood that you own forest
with maple. Many farmers think,
I’ll invest some money and make another
crop.”
When the weather got warm so
quickly, he had to put his post-season
cleaning operations on hold so that
he could start putting manure down
in his fields.
“We’re out, full-force. It’s exciting.
It’s what we do,” he says. n
Council’s Production and Value of
Honey and Maple Products Report,
in 2009, Nova Scotia produced
19,000 gallons of maple syrup; New
Brunswick, 386,000 gallons; Ontario,
417,000 gallons; and Quebec, 8.3 million
gallons.
Quebec is the world’s largest producer
of maple syrup, producing more
than 70 percent of the world’s maple
syrup and 90 percent of Canada’s.
The farmer’s union in Quebec has
been largely in control for determining
the minimum prices of the maple
syrup industry for the last eight years.
This year, Coombs said, the
Canadians had a decent crop.
Thankfully, Coombs said, “farmers
can still make money at current
prices” in Vermont, selling mostly at
retail due to the large domination of
the market by small-farm operations,
but with some also selling bulk and
wholesale.
“I think prices will stay stable this
year,” Coombs said. “I don’t see them
dropping, and, hopefully, knock on
wood, I don’t think they’ll increase on
the consumer side. But the Canadians
have been pretty aggressive this year
with prices.”
Wanting more syrup
Demand also has a lot to do with
the pricing, Couture said.
“Maple syrup is viewed favorably by
people who want to know where their
food is coming from,” he said. “These
are people who are aware of highfructose
corn syrup and other preservatives
and sweeteners. The culinary
world also ‘discovered,’ you might say,
maple syrup. For many years, maple
syrup was only associated with pancakes,
but now, pancakes are only the
beginning. You can let your imagination
run wild with maple syrup.”
Couture also noted an increase in
demand for darker grades of syrup,
which used to be the last grades to
be sold.
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Increasing demands for maple
syrup and other maple products
come from international markets,
Couture said.
“Demand throughout the world
has increased about three times what
it was in the early ’70s,” he said. “In
developing countries, Japan, South
America — these countries usually
buy granulated maple syrup because
it’s easier to ship, but maple syrup is
also being shipped to these countries.
These markets have really helped
cause an increase in demand.”
Helping the industry grow
In 2009, Vermont sugar farmers
produced 920,000 gallons of syrup,
the highest yield since 1944, according
to the New England Agricultural
Statistics 2009 Maple Syrup report.
Vermont remained first in the U.S and
second only to Quebec as the world’s
top producer of maple syrup, so the
consequences of the season — good
or bad — are reflected in the state’s
economy.
“I want to make sure to say how excited
I am about the maple industry
now, even with the economy,” Couture
said. “Maple syrup is one of the bright
lights in agriculture.”
“It’s a great time to be in this industry.
There’s a growth in demand at the
consumer side, and there’s growth on
the manufacturer’s level. If we can expand
at 5 percent a year, which I realize
seems like a lot, then farmers can
expand, and they can make a better
living,” Coombs said.
“We’re a tight knit industry. We’re
all related business-wise; it’s a tight
group. It’s not a six-degrees-of-separation
thing; it’s more like two-degree
separation,” he said, laughing.
“Every drop I sell, I’m helping other
farmers,” Coombs said. “If we could
double the industry in 10 years, which
is something I have suggested as chairman
of the Vermont Maple Industry
Council, that’s the cat’s meow.”
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sinCe some
haVe asKed LateLy...
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