SapLover
03-25-2015, 05:19 PM
Sugar Makers Uneasy as Cold Continues, Short Season Looms
By Maggie Cassidy Valley News Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Stratford — What is often a busy time for the Upper Valley’s sugaring community has become a bit of a thumb-twiddler, as extended cold temperatures are keeping the sap in the trees and buckets mostly bare.
“We’re kind of tapped out,” said Keith Fifield, of Fifield’s Sugarhouse in Strafford, “and we’re waiting.”
Normally by this time, Fifield and his father, Wayne Fifield, would have produced 500 to 600 gallons of maple syrup — which would represent half of their average seasonal crop — but after their lone boiling session a week and a half ago, they have 15 gallons to show.
And while there’s still time left in the season for a rebound, the Fifields and their 4,700 taps aren’t alone in a Twin State sugaring season that, thus far, leaves something to be desired.
“We are patiently waiting to begin still,” Hartland’s Reid Richardson said Monday, when asked how the season is going, “and getting more and more nervous as to what kind of a crop we’re going to get because typically, come April 15th, we’re done whether we want to be or not.”
Richardson, who oversees sugaring at the Richardson Family Farm, said his crew typically starts boiling sap collected from its 8,000 taps during the first week of March. This year, they haven’t yet boiled once.
“It’s a game of patience at this point,” he said.
The problem has been the long, freezing cold spells that have kept temperatures well below the seasonal average, and sometimes below zero. Sugar makers said they like to see temperatures in the 40s during the day, which lets the sap run smoothly, before dipping back into the 20s at night, which leads to a kind of rejuvenation of the trees.
“It recharges everything and keeps the season running,” said Ned Macksoud, of Maplecrest Farm in Woodstock.
But according to data kept by the National Weather Service in Burlington, temperatures in Lebanon hit 50 degrees one day this month, the upper 40s another, and briefly crawled in between 40-44 degrees six other times.
Other areas, especially those clouded in shade beneath the tree line, have even less luck. Meanwhile, nighttime temperatures have also been cold, with a low of 10 forecast in Lebanon tonight.
Bruce Bascom owns Bascom Maple Farms in Alstead, N.H., a major producer and distributor with 70,000 tapped trees of its own, another 15,000 trees contributed by other farms and more product that comes in from about 4,000 smaller producers concentrated in the Twin States and Maine.
He said that although it’s too early to say for sure how the season will be, his expectation is that the crop will be down compared to the last two years.
An extended cold season also gave sugar makers anxiety last year, but a freakish April with consistently good, extended sugaring conditions saved the season, he said.
However, the “odds of that were nil” last time around, and he’s not holding his breath for a repeat.
“(The season is) going to be condensed, so you’re going to end up with a very, very fast condensed crop,” he said. “In the end it may be normal, but it’s difficult to make three times as much per day.”
As consumers turn from corn syrup with artificial flavoring to pure maple syrup — Bascom said each industry has experienced a 5 percent sales decrease and 5 percent sales increase, respectively, over the past year in the U.S. — the demand for maple is increasing while the domestic supply is decreasing.
However, Bascom said that consumers shouldn’t notice a difference in cost because only about 40 million pounds of the world’s 140 million pounds of maple syrup is produced in the U.S., with the vast majority coming from Canada. That country has huge buffer supplies held over from previous years and pricing regulations to level out fluctuations in the market.
Those Canadian regulations ultimately help many American producers, Bascom said, because they prevent maple syrup prices from dipping too low in boon years.
Heidi Bundy, who has been helping to run her family’s Tomapo Farm in Lebanon since she was a child, said the family has boiled sap from their 1,300 taps four times so far this year, with an especially good day on Sunday that made them feel “like things were perking up a little bit for us.”
But they didn’t start boiling until around March 14, about two weeks after their usual start date, and they’re still keeping a cautious eye on the thermometer. Although sugar makers are hoping for warmer temperatures, they don’t want the mercury to rise too sharply too fast, which would drain the trees too quickly and essentially end the season.
A few 60-degree days in a row, example, could prove catastrophic. The 246-year-old farm, overseen by Bundy’s father, Bruce Townsend, has been forced to compensate for bad seasons in the past by buying other New Hampshire syrup to sell to its customers in order to not lose them for a season, but Bundy said she’s hoping to avoid that.
“There has been a delay,” Bundy said, “and we’re just hoping and praying that that delay is just going to smooth right on in into the rest, that we’ll have a normal sugaring season and that ... it’s not going to just warm up and that’s it.”
Forecasters are expecting a couple of 50-degree days mid-week before a cold front drags temperatures down again going into the weekend. Fifield, of Strafford, said that although temperatures in the 50s are higher than ideal, he’s happy that they’re forecasted to be paired with overcast, rainy weather, which is beneficial for sugaring.
Indeed, he and several other sugar makers, such as Woodstock’s Macksoud, are keeping their fingers crossed for a busy day on Wednesday.
Macksoud said that while the recent temperatures have been disappointing and his crop is down compared to a usual year, it was good that there was not a fluky mid-winter thaw.
Although the temperatures have been “anxious making” for people in the sugaring community, he too believes that not all is yet lost, with expectations of a good week next week.
Fifield said that whatever happens, he’ll be ready.
“I have a funny feeling,” he said, “that it’s going to come fast and furious.”
By Maggie Cassidy Valley News Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Stratford — What is often a busy time for the Upper Valley’s sugaring community has become a bit of a thumb-twiddler, as extended cold temperatures are keeping the sap in the trees and buckets mostly bare.
“We’re kind of tapped out,” said Keith Fifield, of Fifield’s Sugarhouse in Strafford, “and we’re waiting.”
Normally by this time, Fifield and his father, Wayne Fifield, would have produced 500 to 600 gallons of maple syrup — which would represent half of their average seasonal crop — but after their lone boiling session a week and a half ago, they have 15 gallons to show.
And while there’s still time left in the season for a rebound, the Fifields and their 4,700 taps aren’t alone in a Twin State sugaring season that, thus far, leaves something to be desired.
“We are patiently waiting to begin still,” Hartland’s Reid Richardson said Monday, when asked how the season is going, “and getting more and more nervous as to what kind of a crop we’re going to get because typically, come April 15th, we’re done whether we want to be or not.”
Richardson, who oversees sugaring at the Richardson Family Farm, said his crew typically starts boiling sap collected from its 8,000 taps during the first week of March. This year, they haven’t yet boiled once.
“It’s a game of patience at this point,” he said.
The problem has been the long, freezing cold spells that have kept temperatures well below the seasonal average, and sometimes below zero. Sugar makers said they like to see temperatures in the 40s during the day, which lets the sap run smoothly, before dipping back into the 20s at night, which leads to a kind of rejuvenation of the trees.
“It recharges everything and keeps the season running,” said Ned Macksoud, of Maplecrest Farm in Woodstock.
But according to data kept by the National Weather Service in Burlington, temperatures in Lebanon hit 50 degrees one day this month, the upper 40s another, and briefly crawled in between 40-44 degrees six other times.
Other areas, especially those clouded in shade beneath the tree line, have even less luck. Meanwhile, nighttime temperatures have also been cold, with a low of 10 forecast in Lebanon tonight.
Bruce Bascom owns Bascom Maple Farms in Alstead, N.H., a major producer and distributor with 70,000 tapped trees of its own, another 15,000 trees contributed by other farms and more product that comes in from about 4,000 smaller producers concentrated in the Twin States and Maine.
He said that although it’s too early to say for sure how the season will be, his expectation is that the crop will be down compared to the last two years.
An extended cold season also gave sugar makers anxiety last year, but a freakish April with consistently good, extended sugaring conditions saved the season, he said.
However, the “odds of that were nil” last time around, and he’s not holding his breath for a repeat.
“(The season is) going to be condensed, so you’re going to end up with a very, very fast condensed crop,” he said. “In the end it may be normal, but it’s difficult to make three times as much per day.”
As consumers turn from corn syrup with artificial flavoring to pure maple syrup — Bascom said each industry has experienced a 5 percent sales decrease and 5 percent sales increase, respectively, over the past year in the U.S. — the demand for maple is increasing while the domestic supply is decreasing.
However, Bascom said that consumers shouldn’t notice a difference in cost because only about 40 million pounds of the world’s 140 million pounds of maple syrup is produced in the U.S., with the vast majority coming from Canada. That country has huge buffer supplies held over from previous years and pricing regulations to level out fluctuations in the market.
Those Canadian regulations ultimately help many American producers, Bascom said, because they prevent maple syrup prices from dipping too low in boon years.
Heidi Bundy, who has been helping to run her family’s Tomapo Farm in Lebanon since she was a child, said the family has boiled sap from their 1,300 taps four times so far this year, with an especially good day on Sunday that made them feel “like things were perking up a little bit for us.”
But they didn’t start boiling until around March 14, about two weeks after their usual start date, and they’re still keeping a cautious eye on the thermometer. Although sugar makers are hoping for warmer temperatures, they don’t want the mercury to rise too sharply too fast, which would drain the trees too quickly and essentially end the season.
A few 60-degree days in a row, example, could prove catastrophic. The 246-year-old farm, overseen by Bundy’s father, Bruce Townsend, has been forced to compensate for bad seasons in the past by buying other New Hampshire syrup to sell to its customers in order to not lose them for a season, but Bundy said she’s hoping to avoid that.
“There has been a delay,” Bundy said, “and we’re just hoping and praying that that delay is just going to smooth right on in into the rest, that we’ll have a normal sugaring season and that ... it’s not going to just warm up and that’s it.”
Forecasters are expecting a couple of 50-degree days mid-week before a cold front drags temperatures down again going into the weekend. Fifield, of Strafford, said that although temperatures in the 50s are higher than ideal, he’s happy that they’re forecasted to be paired with overcast, rainy weather, which is beneficial for sugaring.
Indeed, he and several other sugar makers, such as Woodstock’s Macksoud, are keeping their fingers crossed for a busy day on Wednesday.
Macksoud said that while the recent temperatures have been disappointing and his crop is down compared to a usual year, it was good that there was not a fluky mid-winter thaw.
Although the temperatures have been “anxious making” for people in the sugaring community, he too believes that not all is yet lost, with expectations of a good week next week.
Fifield said that whatever happens, he’ll be ready.
“I have a funny feeling,” he said, “that it’s going to come fast and furious.”