'Perfect' conditions fuel strong maple syrup season in eastern Ontario
Several maple syrup producers in eastern Ontario say winter conditions delivered stronger than average yields this season.
Paul Edwards boils maple sap he takes from the trees on his campground at Otter Lake near Smiths Falls, Ont.
After a slow start early on — due to deep frost and lingering cold — the season quickly accelerated, he said.
"We had sap that we couldn't boil this year,” Edwards said. “There was so much, it was just crazy."
Edwards, who runs a modest operation that's mostly for family and campground guests, said the combination of cold nights and mild days created "the perfect scenario for making maple syrup.”
"The sap came faster than we could actually deal with it.”
Ideal conditions
According to Ontario's Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness, around 1,350 jobs in the province are tied to syrup production — a sector that contributes nearly $50 million to Ontario's economy.
About an hour away from Edwards in Lanark County, larger-scale producer Mark Wheeler's syrup operation had similar experiences.
He said it boils down to the fluctuating temperatures.
“When you have a stop-and-start spring, where it’s cold and then warm ... it’ll lengthen the season,” he said.
Wheeler's family operation includes more than 40,000 taps spread across roughly 400 hectares.
This year’s season started on March 6, roughly around the traditional start time, Wheeler said.
But over the past two decades or so, warmer winters have seen trees releasing their sap a lot earlier, Wheeler said —sometimes as early as February.
"[That] was unheard of 30 years ago,” he said.
Mark Wheeler's maple syrup farm is based in Lanark County. He says it's been an ideal season, thanks largely to the 'stop-and-start spring.' (Hallie Cotnam/CBC)
An earlier jump on sap flow isn't necessarily a good thing, since if temperatures get warm too quickly, maple trees start budding.
That process makes the sap bitter, Wheeler said, effectively ending the season.
Both he and Edwards said this year's season shows just how much maple syrup production is dependent on weather.
“We’re at the whim of Mother Nature,” Wheeler said.
Despite that uncertainty, Edwards said the rewards of making maple syrup go far beyond the final product.
A third-generation syrup producer, he now shares his experience with his children and grandchildren, carrying on a family tradition that stretches back to the 1940s.
For them, "it’s just a super natural thing to do," he said.
“To be able to take a tap, put it in a tree, get some liquid out and then turn it into what I call liquid gold — it’s very rewarding."
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This article, written by Cameron Mahler, was originally published for CBC News. With files from Hallie Cotnam