NY Maple Tour

[TWhite]

Check needs to be in June 14th for the NY Maple Tour in July. Has anyone attended this event in other years and is it worth while? Is anyone from this group attending this year and what type of producers is it geared for?
Thanks,
Todd

[davey]

I went to the open house portion in Batavia last year and thought that it was mostly designed for equipment dealers. I did not go on any of the tours.

[lew]

I have gone to a couple of different maple tours in NY. They are geared toward all different types and sizes of producers. they usually have tours of operations from 200 taps on up. I didn't check into this years tour but it will probably have some small and some large operations. I personally got good ideas from most of the stops, it's not the size of the operation that matters, it's the igenuity of the particular producer that matters. i found them to be pretty rewarding. They do have a trade show that is associated with the tour that is obviously geared toward equipment dealers, but that is a small portion of the tour. The tour is a great place to ask any questions you might have, because, like here, you can get an answer from several different people from several different backgrounds.

[davey]

Thats good to hear about the tour. I had brought my 4 year old to the trade show and knew the tour would be a mistake, not everybody appreciates the company of a bored 4 year old, especially someone else's. After reading your post I think I may try to go again this year. (alone)

[lew]

Good idea about going alone. It's pretty much all maple, and even a bored spouse could get nerve racking. They do usually have one stop at something non=maple to help keep the non=maple people at bay. I doon't understand this though. If you're not into maple, why go?

[maple flats]

I went to one in 04. It was real good for me as I was just new to trying to gro after several years of home use only. I saw everyone's approach and gained several ideas. Even had a great time on the bus portion talking with others of all size operations and getting ideas from them. I did go alone and think it was a good choice because if my wife had gone I would have missed the interaction on the bus because i would have been talking with my wife and not as many other producers. The older lady i sat with between several stops had 12,000 taps on every kind of maple. Her (and her husband's ) policy was "if it's maple, it's tapped" They did have RO to bring sap up to 6-8% on the way into evap. It was a little strange getting ideas from one this large being my size at this point was about 70 I think. I still do not tap everything but got many ideas from her.

[New Hope Mapleman]

I went on one about twelve years ago, and sent my dad last year because I couldn't attend. Plan to go again this year because I'm seeking ideas and information on set-up for RO's.

The benefits include meeting people who can can reference at a later date if you have questions about how they designed something or where they got that piece of equipment. I have several items I use every year that I learned how to make on the first maple tour I attended.

I know a couple of the people on the tour this year and think it could be very beneficial if you are looking to expand in the future. Some have good ideas for marketing products in off the road locations.

Hope to see you there.
Dan