Leasing taps?

[ADK_XJ]

We currently live in an area that is more suburban sprawl than rural land, so I don't know of many around here that lease their land for taps. But, we're considering moving nearer to family in the true country and wondering how folks have managed leasing arrangements in their neck of the woods? Ever been turned down on an offer to pay per tap lease?

We're looking at a house that has a beautiful slope of mature maples - probably 100-200 taps - and use to include another 100 acres of hillside forest behind it but that's been sold off. Would want to know with relative certainty that I could expand operations down the road.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

You're going to have to contact the landowner, certainly can't plan on them allowing it. Dollar for dollar, the timber value will outdo lease income for maples and by quite a bit. However, landowners that have no intent to harvest and like the idea of "farming" their land may be all for it. Others like the one we lease from like the small annual income to help pay for their taxes vs. 1 large sum over 1-2 years if they had it cut so it works for both of us. You do need to be able to do some thinning and management of the land as part of the lease agreement so plan on that. Costs seem to run $0.50-$1.50 per tap generally but there are a lot of variables. Do a search on here, there have been many posts with good information.

[maple flats]

I only now have 2 leases, and thru the years have had 4 (I quit the smaller ones on my own). One current lease said yes when I asked and the second one actually stopped as I was pumping the tank at that first lease and asked if I was interested in leasing his trees. In 4 leases I've never been turned down, but my guess is that this is not the rule. On my leases I currently pay $.80/tap, their choice, syrup or check. This price goes up (or down) using the declared inflation rate for social security each year. In areas where maple is more common, the price will go much higher, there are only a handfull of producers within 20 miles of me, and only two with more taps (than my 750-800) that I know of, most seem to be in the 30-500 range.
If you qualify, file for an Ag. Assessment, once qualified, you can also get the lease owners the same off your sales. In NY state one needs $10,000 in ag. sales average for last year and the year before. The sales do not need to be all in maple, can be any ag. products.

[mudr]

There were some interesting analyses done by John Farrell. Tap leases can actually be more profitable that just timber income. The last paragraph in the following document does a good job summarizing it. If you want the most money now, then logging is "better". If you want most value from your property and are ok with a longer time frame, tap leasing is "better". Also, the land owner can still have the stand thinned every so often (20-30 yrs?) and still allow tapping. The problem there, I would assume, is having that communicated well in the lease with regards to timing. There is also the labor involved with taking down tubing if the stand were to be thinned.

http://maple.dnr.cornell.edu/produc/tvs/analysis.pdf