Farmers Forum staff
OTTAWA — For all the hand wringing over the warm winter just past, Ontario maple syrup producers reported at least an average sap run by the end of March, which followed an early start to the season in February.
“Certainly, it was a very early season for almost everyone. We were boiling on February 9th and that was a record for us,” said John Williams, operator of a 3,400-tap sugarbush in Midland. “Almost everyone I’ve talked to said it’s been the earliest they’ve ever boiled.”
Williams, who also serves as Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association executive director, said he was able to reach his yield goal by the end of March.
He observed that producers using buckets or gravity systems had a tougher time this year. “But it wasn’t a bad season at all for those of us on vacuum systems.”
Producers using vacuum tubing are able to pull sap from the trees at those times in the sugaring season when temperatures refuse to dip below freezing at night, which was an issue this year, he explained. “The vacuum will help keep the flow going on those days. We did have a stretch there where we stayed above zero, and we probably ran our vacuum pumps for 24 hours straight for about 5 or 6 days.”
“I would say overall, in the south and west and mid-climes in the province, it seems to be an OK season,” he said, though acknowledging there are always exceptions.
Wilfred Schmidt, at Schmidt’s Family Syrup in New Hamburg, reported his season as average and “pretty much on par with last year.”
Like Williams, Schmidt boiled first on Feb. 9. His last boil of 2024 at the 4,950-tap operation was March 30.
