Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[DrTimPerkins]

A much better measure would be profit per tap because it's all anyone cares about at the end of the season.

GPT or lbs/tap are measures of yield productivity. Certainly lots of things that could be measured and lots of ways to express it. Gallons per acre is another common way.

Undoubtedly though, for many (not all) producers, a desire to see a profit is what it comes down to, however I doubt that 1 out of 10 producers have records good enough over a long enough period of time to calculate it, but it can be done. See https://www.uvm.edu/extension/agricu...ules/node/7312 for lots more info on maple business tools. Mark Cannella (UVM Extension) and his crew are really good people to work with.

It is just as wrong to spend every penny possible to get a few tenths more gpt as it is to not spend some money (targeted wisely) to get more sap and increase your bottom line. It runs both ways.

I can tell you that I've presented various approaches to high yield production with folks many times. When you start talking about paying wages people have quite varied opinions. Some really don't want to include in, some do (business people will tell you that it should almost always be included). During one particularly interesting presentation I showed calculations including wages and one of the attendees gave me a real earfull about why his time shouldn't be included. Ten minutes later when I suggested something different as an option he piped up that he couldn't do that because it took up too much of his time.

[Tigermaple]

Thanks for the link, Doc! Great tools and info.

[drewlamb]

We have boiled 10 out of the last 11 days and are happy for a cold-snap recharge and much needed break. Sap sugar started that period at 2.0 but made a quick decline to 1.5ish where it has held. What a strange year we've had. A few things from 2021 we'll remember...
- Very low sugar sand. GeneralStark mentioned this too. Never seen it so low.
- Cloudy, yeasty sap for most of season - the kind you usually see more toward the end. No amount of daily tank cleaning and timely gathering seemed to change this. Remarkably, still made excellent syrup.
- Zero gallons of golden. A couple early boils were close. And will only end up with about 25% of crop as amber. No VDS yet. 2021 will be the year of DR. Opposite of last year when 80% of our syrup was golden or amber.
- Evaporator foam monsters. Went with organic trans-0-580 for first half of season which worked ok but it absolutely could not keep up once the sap got yeasty. Required constant attention in all pans. Just no way to add enough without affecting the syrup. We switched back to atmos for later part of season. What a difference. Better gradient, less fluctuation in sap levels with more even draws, and WAY less stress. Curious to know how others committed to organic deal with this. What a pain in the ***.
- Great road conditions for truck hauling. Dry March and low seasonal snow make for the lightest mud-season in recent memory.

Looking forward to another good week next week. Thinking the door may close after that.
Good luck to everyone through what's left!

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Your report on dark syrup and yeasty sap from the start are similar to many guys in the western Maine mountains. I know large producers that stated the exact same thing. Mostly dark syrup, 1 of them had made nothing but dark last I spoke to them. Interesting!

[sapman]

We have boiled 10 out of the last 11 days and are happy for a cold-snap recharge and much needed break. Sap sugar started that period at 2.0 but made a quick decline to 1.5ish where it has held. What a strange year we've had. A few things from 2021 we'll remember...
- Very low sugar sand. GeneralStark mentioned this too. Never seen it so low.
- Cloudy, yeasty sap for most of season - the kind you usually see more toward the end. No amount of daily tank cleaning and timely gathering seemed to change this. Remarkably, still made excellent syrup.
- Zero gallons of golden. A couple early boils were close. And will only end up with about 25% of crop as amber. No VDS yet. 2021 will be the year of DR. Opposite of last year when 80% of our syrup was golden or amber.
- Evaporator foam monsters. Went with organic trans-0-580 for first half of season which worked ok but it absolutely could not keep up once the sap got yeasty. Required constant attention in all pans. Just no way to add enough without affecting the syrup. We switched back to atmos for later part of season. What a difference. Better gradient, less fluctuation in sap levels with more even draws, and WAY less stress. Curious to know how others committed to organic deal with this. What a pain in the ***.
- Great road conditions for truck hauling. Dry March and low seasonal snow make for the lightest mud-season in recent memory.

Looking forward to another good week next week. Thinking the door may close after that.
Good luck to everyone through what's left!

I, too , went organic this year. Trans-O worked pretty well here, but dispensing was the main problem, plus using a lot, with the exception of a horrible boil last week. Should have used Atmos for that crap. Also tried Org60. Worked about the same as Trans o, but lot cheaper.

So when you went back to Atmos, you obviously couldn't certify that syrup, correct? Thats what I'm going to do if I get any more late season sap, which will be buddy anyway.

[DrTimPerkins]

Trans O580 works best with auto-dosers. Producers should note that there may be some packers who won't accept syrup made with Org60 since it contains soy (one of the big allergens).

When you switch over to Atmos (or another non-certified defoamer), any syrup made from that point on is no longer certified organic. You could potentially return to organic production, but would have to finish out all the syrup in your pans as conventional syrup, thoroughly clean the pans, then start over with organic defoamer again. Typically during a season when you get to the point of decertifying, you don't go back. Foam doesn't often get better.

[drewlamb]

Right. Everything from here on is non-organic. We are not certified anyway, but wanted to do a trial this year to see if we'd go that route. Exactly sapman, Trans worked fine early but was god-awful recently. Just couldn't keep up. We had a turning point boil just like you - terrible. The smell of that trans made me want to puke. Dumped the entire evaporator and started from scratch the next boil with Atmos. Aaaahhh.

[Ultimatetreehugger]

At 1130 last night I finally caught up from the last thaw. 18000 gallons of sap in 48 hours on 3300 taps...

[DrTimPerkins]

Trans worked fine early but was god-awful recently. Just couldn't keep up.

That's pretty typical for organic defoamers. They work reasonably well to a point...then they don't. Trans works slightly better than some, with less off-flavors. When it reaches the point when you're standing over the flue pan with a bottle pouring it directly into the pan with no effect then it's time to change to Atmos. The lack of organic defoamer effectiveness is one of the weakest points of organic maple syrup production.

[n8hutch]

At 1130 last night I finally caught up from the last thaw. 18000 gallons of sap in 48 hours on 3300 taps...

Thats A run.