Think of asparagus.
How long does it take to get an asparagus plantation to yield?
What happens to asparagus when it is harvested? Jeez, they cut the tops off!

It is criminal and immoral. I'm starting a "save the asparagus" foundation....

Seriously, it would be one thing to cut the crowns off all the saplings in your sugarbush effectively destroying regeneration of the bush, but entirely another to create a plantation for the purpose harvesting sap from maple saplings. No?