Crown Maple

[bison1973]

I don't know about you guys but I was thinking...

Just what the maple industry needs is a Wall Street millionare getting into the business... and, his goal should be to "corner the retail market".

Then I opened the latest Maple News and much to my delight... it's happening!



Your thoughts gentlemen?

[Greenwich Maple Man]

I know for a fact the owner of crown couldn't make a drop of syrup. Big money trying to buy his way in.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

hello big government regulation

[bison1973]

that's exactly what I thought... nothing like the big bucks from wall steet to get the government's attention.

[maple flats]

And those big wall street investors will keep doing it until the money is gone.

[sjdoyon]

someone might want to tell Crown Maple that the Canadians already cornered the market. They have plenty of capacity to produce more but don't to keep the prices stable.

[adk1]

Ok, someone needs to fill me on on this Crown Maple. I do not get the Maple News unfortunatly

[red maples]

Crown maple...lets see where to start. a wall street billionaire with a staff of 30 or whatever with a whole bunch of taps in NY state. That got most of the equipment he uses from grants etc. Has hired a big advertising team to sell his "AWARD WINNING" syrup to big cities like NY, San Fran to high end specialty shops, and very expensive high end foofy eclectic restaurants in NYC. he's selling 12 oz glass bottles for "$ 19.95 a piece doesn't do 1/2 gals or gals and is making $191 a gallon retail. for his syrup. Its bascially a rich investor who saw a way to exploit a mark and is taking advantage of people!!! and making a boat load of money in the process!!! highway robbery!!!

Honestly I don't like it,(if you couldn't tell) its just making big business out of what we all love to do. but at the same time Its not going to effect my little local market because my customers know that I am honest and going to give them fair, competative prices and my syrup is made by the blood sweat and tears and hard work from me. They know that I am I put my passion into what I do and if they go buy syrup from some guy in NY(no offense to the other NY Producers) then they deserve to throw their money away. I doubt if we will see crown anywhere local around here. If I do I will have to talk to the manager and tell them there are better options right here in NH.

[warners point]

The only "crown" we talk about at our sugar shack is imported from Canada.:lol: Has anyone tried the new Crown Maple?

[spud]

Ok, someone needs to fill me on on this Crown Maple. I do not get the Maple News unfortunatly

I read the story in the Maple News and found it to be very interesting. Here's a guy that owns 800 acres of prime sugaring land in New York. A neighbor of his suggested one day that he should tap his maple trees because there is money to be made. So the owner of the land did just that and invested a bunch of his money in building a show place sugarhouse and set up 40,000 taps. The owner then went out and found a market in New York City for all his syrup. Not only did he find a market but he only bottles his syrup in small glass and is selling a 12 ounce bottle of light amber for $19.95 At this price he is getting $191.00 per gallon for his syrup. The owner is now seeing that much money can be made in sugaring so he plans to expand his operation. He also is encouraging neighbors of his to tap their trees also.

There are some here on Trader that have a problem with this man for capturing the maple market in part of New York City and making a lot of money doing it. Although this market was wide open for anyone to take some are angry that he got it and they did not. So here is the way I see it. This guy could be helping us all by getting higher prices for his syrup. He may help to bring the price of syrup up for all of us. If he can go to every city in America and get the same prices then this is what will happen. It's safe to say he will need to buy a lot of bulk syrup from producers in New York and other states. He cannot do this alone and he will need many producers to fill his orders. It is also safe to say that if he continues to get $191.00 per gallon he would have to be willing to pay more then $31.50 (bulk rate) for all of our syrup (or it could kill his market). We could see bulk prices go up because of people like him (not down).

It was not long ago right here on Trader there were heated debates on what to charge for syrup. Thad and I both said we were selling syrup for $35.00 a gallon and we were bashed for it. We were told that people like us could bring the market down by doing this. We were told we are selfish for under cutting people that are trying to get $45.00+ per gallon. It was even said that anyone selling syrup for less could not be making any money (even though most syrup produced in the world is sold at bulk price $30.00-$32.50). Others have said selling syrup for less then $40.00 a gallon means the syrup is junk.

There appears to be a big market for maple syrup around the world. The industry seems to be growing. Maple equipment dealers are selling more now then ever before. I look at this as a good thing not bad. So to the people that have a problem with Crown Maple and have a problem with people that undercut I have one question. What do you want? It seems to me it;s **** if you do and **** if you don't. I wish all sugar maker's the best whether they sell for $10.00 or $191.00 a gallon. I love to hear about people that work hard and succeed in what they do. My hat's off to Crown Maple.

Spud

[ericjeeper]

Seems to me as this guy is doing us all a favor by driving the prices up. We can say our syrup is just as organic as his and we are less expensive..
I could see hating the guy if he was selling it for $19.99 a gallon in a fancy smancy glass decanter.

[steam maker]

maybe after the people start using more than there 12 ounce bottles they will start googling where they can buy more , get your websites ready boys

[lew]

Personnally I don't see how selling syrup at $191 per gallon is going to drive the price down, it can only go up at theses prices. I also don't see this guy making a killing at this. He has a lot of over head with a fancy place like that in just the upkeep of the property let alone the sugaring end of things. Downstate labor is very expensive. On another note, I had an interesting call from a Crown Maple employee last winter. He was looking for any "extra sap" we might have and be willing to sell them. they would handle the trucking. I found this interesting because I live about 2 1/2 hours north west of their operation. I explained this to the guy and he didn't care. Obviously I din't have any sap to sell and this guy didn't have a clue what he was talking about. He was just doing what the boss said.

[DrTimPerkins]

We can say our syrup is just as organic as his.....

You can say it is organic if you are certified organic. You can't if you aren't certified. The term "organic" is regulated by federal law.

[red maples]

He has the right to do what ever he wants. He is a business man and he has millions or billions to work with. Maybe its more jelousy than anything, as far as selling syrup for that price I guess if you can get it alright good for you. Here is the part I don't like about it. when you charge that much for syrup I don't see it as a a nitch or anything like that your using marketing to fool people that are ignorant to a product. It has become the american way which is sad and marketing scams are what sell products in combinations with attractive displays packaging etc. I personally think that if your getting that much for syrup your taking advantage of people, I just don't think its right. Is there a big market for maple yeah, its huge world wide, we are lucky enough to live in the maple producing area of the world but we still shouldn't take advantage of people by charging that much. just my opinion.

As far as selling your syrup by the gallon for so cheap, well a few things first you really need to stay competative with the surrounding sugarhouses if you have competetion, and competition is good, its alot of hard work as we all know and you should be paid for your hard work. but if your fine with selling syrup for less than its value(again just my opinion) then thats fine too. you have a right to do that too. I am not going to bash you for it. just thinking fairly of you and your competition and you customers. now this is just my opinion. Everyone that know that keeps bees and sells the honey is charging $10 a pound, I just think its too much, So I only charge $8 a pound. could I get $10? I am sure I can I don't wanna bring the market price down its just my opinion. The bees make it not me!!!

In anycase I think in the beginning of Crown maples ventures put a bad taste in alot of people's mouths by rumors of tapping state land in the catskills that was owned privately owned and the owners paying taxes on it couldn't do anything with it because of government friends in low places. grants to get high effiecient maple equipment even though he afford his own. But they since moved the operation and dumped a ton of money into it. I guess you could look at it as a good sound business model and its nice to have money to spend on a multi-million dollar facility, but I know if I were going to a sugarhouse there is just something that is nice to see a wooden sugarhouse with the sweet smell steam rising and coming out of the coupula, unfortunately like everything else related to food shortly we are all going to have to conform to the demands of the industry to be efficent with steam hoods, and the serilization of the white walled food industry. It just looses its romantics when you think about it going in that direction but we all know it will.

this year I raised my prices a bit not much just by $1 for quarts and pints and $2 for 1/2 gallons, I explained to my customers that is was a bad year and costs have gone up a little but as long as I have a more normal season next year I will bring the prices back down to normal and everyone was fine and understood completely.

Oh yeah and what Dr Tim said is true you can't say its organic unless youre certified. but you can say all natural, although all natural and anything else is just feel good marketing words.

[GeneralStark]

Selling syrup for 35$/Gallon is just selling syrup at the bulk price. What's the big deal? Especially here in VT where everyone is or is related to a sugarmaker.

As far as 191$/Gallon, I can do better and often do. You just have to be clever and market correctly.

[802maple]

I don't understand how it can be taking advantage of anyone, obviously if they can pay that for it, they believe it is worth it. As everyone knows there is a crap load of work and investment going into this product we love to make, what is wrong with getting payed a fair wage for making it?

[spud]

Selling syrup for 35$/Gallon is just selling syrup at the bulk price. What's the big deal? Especially here in VT where everyone is or is related to a sugarmaker.

As far as 191$/Gallon, I can do better and often do. You just have to be clever and market correctly.

$35.00 a gallon is not bulk price. To sell at $35.00 would give a person $2.00-2.50 more dollars per gallon. Now for a guy that only has 400 taps this might not be worth while. If a guy could sell 1000 gallons this would give him $2000-2500 more dollars in his pocket. I sure could use the extra money and most other people also could.

As far as you making more then $191.00 per gallon I think that is great. I am always excited to hear about people making a lot of money per gallon. I wish you the best.

Spud

[Thad Blaisdell]

$35.00 a gallon is not bulk price. To sell at $35.00 would give a person $2.00-2.50 more dollars per gallon. Now for a guy that only has 400 taps this might not be worth while.
Spud

Spud, technically that is bulk price.... you are forgetting the cost of the jug. But what people dont take into account is the form of payment..... The stuff we all love best

[802maple]

Technically, you would be getting less then bulk price at 35.00, considering a gallon jug holds much more then a gallon when filled which is closer to 11 and a half pounds or more depending on density. If you are reheating to can you will lose 5 percent or more in that process, extra fuel to heat it, container price, equipment and labor to fill them. Just in the syrup and container you have between 35.50 and 36.00 dollars depending where you buy the container, then add the labor, fuel and equipment in and you are getting close to 37.50 just to break even. Then if something goes wrong and you have to replace it or give the money back you are falling behind fast.
$35.00 a gallon is not bulk price. To sell at $35.00 would give a person $2.00-2.50 more dollars per gallon. Now for a guy that only has 400 taps this might not be worth while. If a guy could sell 1000 gallons this would give him $2000-2500 more dollars in his pocket. I sure could use the extra money and most other people also could.

As far as you making more then $191.00 per gallon I think that is great. I am always excited to hear about people making a lot of money per gallon. I wish you the best.

Spud

[spud]

Point well taken. Although selling syrup in smaller containers (even at a lower price then others) could pay much better then selling bulk.

Spud

[Thad Blaisdell]

I only do (did) this during the season. Bottled it directly from canner while I was standing there. No checks accepted. Much better than bulk price.

[spud]

And by doing this it's helping you and your family out by making a little extra money (no harm done) Nobody's under cutting prices out of spite it's just a way of making a little extra money for someone that sells most of their syrup bulk. I wish others would see it that way and not get so upset. This is why I smile when I read about Crown Maple selling 12 ounce bottles for $19.95 each. He is able to do something that is not easy to do and that is sell everything in very small bottles. Thats why my hat goes off to this man.

Spud

[Cardigan99]

One of two things will happen. The price of syrup will rise for everyone (not likely) Or, the city folks will figure out pretty quick they can look around and find it much cheaper. What's to stop anyone from finding an outlet in the big apple and undercutting this guy?

[OneLegJohn]

With a quick google search, I found the owner of Crown Maple is a West Point graduate with an MBA from Harvard Business School. I think it is great he's creating new markets for maple. NYC is a huge "untapped" market for maple syrup. It looks like he has great contacts and relationships to develop his business. Good for him. Good for maple.

[red maples]

Good discussion!!! good opinions. and we are all staying nice must be the holiday season......:D

[bison1973]

When I started this thread I never said he DID NOT have a right to do this. Absolutely he does. Now, when I read the article I just had to laugh. Most of us have grown up with maple... worked in it and built up our operations little by little. My whole feeling on the Crown Maple is the guy couldn't tell you what end of the hydrometer is up before this. Maple is not a big corporate industry, never has been. Do we want it to go the way of the cattle industry?

We all know what happens when Wall Street and the Federal govement get togther on something...

Capitalism is great. Greed is bad.

[802maple]

A good share of us do this to make a living and I surely wish i had made the decisions that would create the wealth that he has to be able to afford this type of operation. I personally know some involved and and they were not born with a silver spoon in their mouth, I congratulate this operation in not only promoting syrup like it should be but also creating jobs as well.

[red maples]

I agree greed is bad, and you make some good points as did everyone.... I said the same thing about maple and big business in alot of words, but now that I think about it maple already is a big business. look at the size of the operations in Canada, Whats Lappierre at like 175K taps I am sure there facility is WAY bigger than crown. and its getting shipped to JAPAN in thousands of pound quantities. when you see the cheap stuff in the supermarket store shelf and I am talking real maple its big packers with syrup from canada mixed in there. I don't wanna see maple go by the way of factory farming either but as much as we are making there is still a demand for it and yes I am the little guy who just sells a 75 gallons a year. As a section of north america, canada included, there is more maple syrup being made than ever before and with great and improoving efficiency. You could say that maple factory farming is already here by the way we are now producing maple from just being boiled in a pot by wood to RO's steamaways, high effieciency arches, and vacuum pumps etc. etc. etc. its here and we are improving it everyday. in this day of maple syrup you can use a 2x6 and still get away with over 1000 taps as long as you have all the stuff I just mentioned above.

As much as I don't like big business either and I am for the local farmer. I guess I am changing my toon after reading some of the other posts and yes this guy is a businessman and maybe couldn't tap a tree to save his life but yes he's creating jobs and maybe he is opening the door to get maple more in the mainstream. Will it effect me NO probably not. Its the same thing when you go into a touristy shop somewhere how much is a quart of syrup anywhere from $20 to as much as $40+ for a quart. which is a s much as $160 a gallon. So to say that maple isn't a big business already well............



When I started this thread I never said he DID NOT have a right to do this. Absolutely he does. Now, when I read the article I just had to laugh. Most of us have grown up with maple... worked in it and built up our operations little by little. My whole feeling on the Crown Maple is the guy couldn't tell you what end of the hydrometer is up before this. Maple is not a big corporate industry, never has been. Do we want it to go the way of the cattle industry?

We all know what happens when Wall Street and the Federal govement get togther on something...

Capitalism is great. Greed is bad.

[spud]

[QUOTE=bison1973;196269]When I started this thread I never said he DID NOT have a right to do this. Absolutely he does. Now, when I read the article I just had to laugh. Most of us have grown up with maple... worked in it and built up our operations little by little. My whole feeling on the Crown Maple is the guy couldn't tell you what end of the hydrometer is up before this. Maple is not a big corporate industry, never has been. Do we want it to go the way of the cattle industry?

We all know what happens when Wall Street and the Federal govement get togther on something...

Tim

As a person grows from being young to old they also take on new interest. There once was a time when I enjoyed playing baseball and drinking beer. Now as I'm older I prefer sitting on the porch drinking coffee. My point is people change and their interest can also change. If the owner of Crown Maple never tapped a tree until a few years ago then (so what). It would appear that the man took on a new interest (sugaring) and he is not only enjoying it but doing very well at marketing his product. He does not have to be born into a sugaring family to be respected by other sugar makers. We should welcome all people young and old who want to join in and make some syrup. The amount of money he has should make no difference in how we treat him. In suggesting he does not know what end of the hydrometer is up suggest your angry with this mans success. If someone offered you $19.95 per 12 ounce bottle on all the syrup you make you would take it in a flash. If I lived in a big city and saw a nice bottle of syrup for sale for $19.95 I might buy a few for myself and be glad I did. I would love to see Mr. Crown Maple join this site so I could pick his brain.

Spud

[Ed R]

As long as crown makes a quality product thats all that really matters to me. Alot of those new yorkers will be tasting real syrup for the first time and if its not a good experiance thats it. If they like it they will want more and become more savy with purchases over time.

[bison1973]

[QUOTE=bison1973;196269]When I started this thread I never said he DID NOT have a right to do this. Absolutely he does. Now, when I read the article I just had to laugh. Most of us have grown up with maple... worked in it and built up our operations little by little. My whole feeling on the Crown Maple is the guy couldn't tell you what end of the hydrometer is up before this. Maple is not a big corporate industry, never has been. Do we want it to go the way of the cattle industry?

We all know what happens when Wall Street and the Federal govement get togther on something...

Tim

As a person grows from being young to old they also take on new interest. There once was a time when I enjoyed playing baseball and drinking beer. Now as I'm older I prefer sitting on the porch drinking coffee. My point is people change and their interest can also change. If the owner of Crown Maple never tapped a tree until a few years ago then (so what). It would appear that the man took on a new interest (sugaring) and he is not only enjoying it but doing very well at marketing his product. He does not have to be born into a sugaring family to be respected by other sugar makers. We should welcome all people young and old who want to join in and make some syrup. The amount of money he has should make no difference in how we treat him. In suggesting he does not know what end of the hydrometer is up suggest your angry with this mans success. If someone offered you $19.95 per 12 ounce bottle on all the syrup you make you would take it in a flash. If I lived in a big city and saw a nice bottle of syrup for sale for $19.95 I might buy a few for myself and be glad I did. I would love to see Mr. Crown Maple join this site so I could pick his brain.

Spud

Spud, I am not angry with the man. He can do what he wants.

I'm looking at the future. Let me put it this way... I'm from WI (the dairy state). I grew up on a small dairy farm. Those are almost all long gone. Ask small dairy farmers what happened with overproduction...

Maple syrup as a commodity????

As far as a guy just jumping into something he has no experience with... (your comment was "so what") my answer to that is two words: Barack Obama.

have a great day everyone!

[ennismaple]

One of two things will happen. The price of syrup will rise for everyone (not likely) Or, the city folks will figure out pretty quick they can look around and find it much cheaper. What's to stop anyone from finding an outlet in the big apple and undercutting this guy?

Don't they have Costco in NY, NY? They sell 1L jugs for about $13 around here.

And 25,000 trees/taps isn't that big in the scale of things. Maybe in NY it is big but I know a lot of producers who have larger operations.

[wheelguy54]

Well I've been watching this thread since the begining-
Being in the winery/grape business I can speak from experience about people in the same business as you ,only with a WHOLE lot more resources.
It's not all bad...it's not all good .........but I can garantee that they have just as much emotionall investment in their operation as anyone.
And BLESS ANYONE who can break into a market in NYC. There are over 300 farm wineries in NY state and for all intents there is NO NYS wine in NYC.
If this guy can get syrup in there and get consumer confidence for secondary purchase we ALL better tap more trees !

[ennismaple]

Well I've been watching this thread since the begining-
Being in the winery/grape business I can speak from experience about people in the same business as you ,only with a WHOLE lot more resources.
It's not all bad...it's not all good .........but I can garantee that they have just as much emotionall investment in their operation as anyone.
And BLESS ANYONE who can break into a market in NYC. There are over 300 farm wineries in NY state and for all intents there is NO NYS wine in NYC.
If this guy can get syrup in there and get consumer confidence for secondary purchase we ALL better tap more trees !

Agreed. Over the past few years I've been getting more active at marketing our syrup in Toronto (the biggest city in Canada for those of you south of the border) and the market is pretty much limitless! Spend time networking and educating consumers and the sales follow.

[mike z]

I agree with Ed R. ....


As long as crown makes a quality product thats all that really matters to me. Alot of those new yorkers will be tasting real syrup for the first time and if its not a good experiance thats it. If they like it they will want more and become more savy with purchases over time.

[mountainvan]

I read an article on crown in edible hudson. he claims that boiling removes minerals and that is why they super RO their sap. anybody know of real scientific evidence to back up this claim? the article also said that another producer close by has 3,000 taps on one acre and made 3,ooo-5,000 gals of syrup a year!

[wiam]

RO removes some mineral. That is 1 tap in 14'^2. Pretty impressive:rolleyes:

[DrTimPerkins]

I read an article on crown in edible hudson. he claims that boiling removes minerals and that is why they super RO their sap. anybody know of real scientific evidence to back up this claim? the article also said that another producer close by has 3,000 taps on one acre and made 3,ooo-5,000 gals of syrup a year!

Van....boiling creates niter (scale, sugar sand), which precipitates is filtered out. This does remove some of the minerals (mainly calcium malate) in the sap, but there is still plenty left.

The 3,000 taps on an acre must be wrong, unless they are tapping 1" trees.

[Homestead Maple]

They must be tapping someone else's main line if their making 3,000 - 5,000 gallons of syrup a year! :D

[sjdoyon]

I read an article on crown in edible hudson. he claims that boiling removes minerals and that is why they super RO their sap. anybody know of real scientific evidence to back up this claim? the article also said that another producer close by has 3,000 taps on one acre and made 3,ooo-5,000 gals of syrup a year!

I thought 120-150 taps on an acre was pretty good. We had a little over 3,000 taps last spring and produced just over 1,300 gallons. They obviously misquoted the producer on the acreage and production.

[mark w]

Reading this forum actually make me happy. I love the passion sugar makers have I to share that. I happen to think we would all benefit by more exposure to markets that may not be getting exposure. If this works for him think the potential sales it could generate by people seeking syrup from traditional sugermakers. Perhaps. I have on my amber glasses but this is good for most all producers

[mountainvan]

my wife read the article and was dismayed, as am I, by the lack of research done by the publication to see if what crown had said was true. not only did they give bad math and sketchy science but made a point to belittle the maple syrup industry a a whole to make their operation seem like the best in the world. with bloggers and tweeters etc. it only takes one inaccurate comment to hurt us all. the publication is edible hudson valley. check it out and read the article and you may see that not all press is good press.

[wiam]

my wife read the article and was dismayed, as am I, by the lack of research done by the publication to see if what crown had said was true. not only did they give bad math and sketchy science but made a point to belittle the maple syrup industry a a whole to make their operation seem like the best in the world. with bloggers and tweeters etc. it only takes one inaccurate comment to hurt us all. the publication is edible hudson valley. check it out and read the article and you may see that not all press is good press.

I have to agree with this post. Misinformation helps nobody except Crown Maple.

[bison1973]

thank you mountainvan & wiam,


finally someone who gets the point of why I was somewhat dismayed to see a wall street guy with no maple knowledge trying to "corner the market". My point was not that he can't do it (he can) but just what it CAN lead to.

[wiam]

thank you mountainvan & wiam,


finally someone who gets the point of why I was somewhat dismayed to see a wall street guy with no maple knowledge trying to "corner the market". My point was not that he can't do it (he can) but just what it CAN lead to.

I have no problem with him making syrup and trying to "corner the market". I have a problem when he tries to make your syrup and more importantly MY SYRUP seem less than his when that is not true.

[bison1973]

agreed wiam

[CBOYER]

Take a look at a premium producer site that promote the quality of their products, without hurting anyone:
http://www.finemapleproducts.com/en/information/239/our-premium-pure-maple-syrup

[wiam]

Take a look at a premium producer site that promote the quality of their products, without hurting anyone:
http://www.finemapleproducts.com/en/information/239/our-premium-pure-maple-syrup

It can be done.

In my opinion what Crown is saying is not against any law, but it is slimy.

[toquin]

Kids bought me some for X-mas. Keep it out of the shack, its easy to drink!

[mapleack]

^ lol, wrong kind of crown maple.

[Dave Y]

as I have said in the past , there are those who make money with maple syrup, and then there are those who make maple syrup with money. I read the article and if I had that kind of money I would be that brash also.

[unc23win]

Personally I find it interesting that they can get $191 a gallon by selling it in small quantities. I am not interested in the amount of time it takes to sell Syrup to get that much a gallon nor am I that concerned with being a millionare.

From what I know most producers sell to their regular customers and then sell the rest in bulk soemtimes it goes from Pa and stops in Vermont and other times it is headed to Canada depending on the need where it goes from there who knows. I know a few local producers that wait it out and sell all their syrup retail throughout the year and I am happy for them making the extra money.

How big could this Crown get who knows, but there are limits I think. At 25,000 taps they are far from some of the big boys. Within and hour of me there are two 1 is about 100,000 and the other about 80,000. as far as the corporate part thats what corporations do try to make MORE money. Here in Pa the Regas were getting into maple before Adelphia crumbled and they went to prison.

Myself I wonder what if Crown gets into the equipment part of it? Would that bring about new ideas?

[RUSTYBUCKET]

http://hudsonvalley.ynn.com/content/top_stories/628867/hudson-valley-foods-to-be-served-at-presidential-inauguration/?ap=1&MP4

[Snowy Pass Maple]

In our local paper, the Millbrook Independent:

Madava Farms LLC, which operates Crown Maple Syrup in Dover Plains, was offered $500,000 “to expand its operation and create a tourism destination.” This grant is supposed to generate 59 new jobs.

http://themillbrookindependent.com/news/governor-spends-738-million

[shane hickey]

Wheres my half a million grant. Sounds like a monopoly
To me unless they offered this to other larger producers
But i guess good for them.

[CBarnaby]

"The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits." Thomas Jefferson
I have no problem with any company or person making money, just don't like the government donation of $500,000!

[mapleack]

That's BS.

[Gary R]

If we hung out with Chuck Shummer and the likes, we probably would get money.

[adk1]

The Mid Hudson Regional Council added the Crown Maple into their Consolidated Funding Application and named it a Priority Project.
Pay attention to the amount of private funding for the project as well
P R I O R I T Y P R O J E C T
Crown Maple Phase II – Dutchess County
In just two years, Crown Maple at Madava Farms in Dutchess County’s Town of Dover has become New York
State’s leading supplier of pure, certi#ed-organic maple syrup, creating jobs and increasing economic vitality in
the region. !e creation of a new Visitor Center and the increase of manufacturing capacity and output at Madava
Farms, LLC’s Crown Maple facility in Dutchess County will bring signi#cant economic impact to both the
county and the Mid-Hudson Valley region. !rough new maple tapping, increased agri-tourism, and expanded
manufacturing capacity and within #ve years of completion, Crown Maple projects will a"ract up to 28,000
visitors annually to the Visitor Center, a 7,000-square-foot Visitor Center in currently vacant space located on the
second 'oor of its manufacturing and bo"ling center at Madava Farms !is shovel ready project will result in the
$3,454,240 private equity.

[rossbarramen]

i live 10 mintes from crown maple very excited to go visit it in the next week or two!!!

[Genson]

Their final product is no different from thousands of other producers. It relies on expensive and unnecessary marketing, most of which is unreliable and not evidence based. Crown Maple could make a significant contribution to the Maple Syrup Industry in New York. I hope their financial association to the industry leads to advances in meaningful scientific, manufacturing and sugar bush advances. Their recent trend towards alienating local maple producers does not forecast well.

[Snowy Pass Maple]

Folks, come on... we all know pork and maple go well together :-)

This story gets more and more interesting... Crown Maple is also tied into Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation (HVEDC). Chuck Schumer is again involved.

This group just got 3.4 million dollars to help build a building at the Culinary Institute of America to help farmers market products to large companies. But it was also somehow pitched as a disaster relief effort. Again, the local village paper has an interesting article trying to get to the bottom of how exactly this will help farmers, where this money is going, where it's coming from, and the network of political connections behind it all. I'm not sure I understand after reading it, but as we get our expanded operation up and running this year and have more product available, I will have to call these guys up and see what exactly is going on over there.

http://themillbrookindependent.com/news/schumer-spends-34-million-building-cia-%E2%80%9C-help-farmers%E2%80%9D

[sugarman3]

Money goes to money,funny how the bigger you are,the more you get,small producer-hold your hand on your you know what,we can not make enough to even fill out the "required" red tape paper work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[southfork]

I think Crown is benefiting sugarmakers by promoting modern technology and new markets for all of us. Nice to see job creation in the agriculture sector as well. I wish them the best.

[sapmaple]

I saw Crown Maple on this morning with Wake up with Al on the weather channel and just had to comment on Stephanie Abrams expression after downing a shot of his maple syrup it look like she got a after taste that was not so good I bet I could get a different expression on her face with some of my syrup:o

[Run Forest Run!]

I think she ate a bug.

http://on.aol.com/video/its-sap-season-518743335

[Hurlmon]

Grabbed a quick screen shot.

11541

[spud]

They should have giving them some Vermont Fancy.:)

Spud