How sweet it is: Maine maple producers tapped into a syrup boom this year
Results from this year’s maple syruping season show Maine production soared 31% over the 2021 total and 14% above the 2020 volume.
Maple producers in Maine turned out 672,000 gallons of the gooey sweet stuff, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This year's season ran from March 4 to April 9.
The total placed Maine No. 3 among six states where syrup is produced, according to the USDA. Vermont, No. 1, was responsible for 2.55 million gallons, roughly half of all U.S. syrup, while 845,000 gallons came from New York.
Nationwide, production was up 35% over last year’s and 22% above the 2020 total.
Productivity was up as well. In Maine, each maple tap yielded an average of 0.341 gallons of syrup this year, compared to 0.262 gallons in 2021 and 0.299 gallons in 2020.
Maine producers harvest maple sap from 1,970 taps a year, out of roughly 14,000 used across the U.S.
Maine is home to more than 550 makers of maple syrup and related products. The businesses provide roughly 800 full-time and part-time jobs. This year, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, the state’s sugarhouses celebrated the harvest by opening their doors on Maine Maple Sunday, March 27, to thousands of maple-mad visitors.
However, only a small portion of Maine’s maple sales are retail: 6% last year and 3% in 2020, according to the federal data, by far the lowest percentage in any state. Maine sold 82% of all production last year in bulk quantities and 91% the year before.
The state’s production is worth about $20 million annually, but a cash value for the 2022 season hasn’t yet been determined.
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