# Maple season is off to an early start in NH



## Shetland Sheepdog (Mar 31, 2011)

Copied from NH Weekly Market Bulletin

Bruce Ba scom o f Basc om Map l e
Farm s , Inc ., i n Alst ea d s ays the
early sta r t t o this year ' s sa p run
ca ught a l ot of m ap l e pr od ucer s "w i th
t h ei r b u cket s down. " La st Thurs d ay
Bascom re po r te d th eir ow n operation
had already produced 15 percent of their
expected crop in just two days, with only
25 percent of their taps in. He expected
t o h a v e b o il e d a f u ll 2 5 per c e n t o f
expected total production by Friday night.
"Surprisingly e arly" is how Bascom describ ed th is
season of virtually "no winter." He noted that working in
the woods is easy this year with little to no snow on the
ground-a major contrast to last year when sugarmakers
had to struggle through deep snows and frigid temperatures
to put in their taps.
Basc oms r u n 92, 000 t aps , an d e x p ec t to ma ke
40,00 0 ga l l ons of syru p, a l th oug h fin al v olume w i l l
depend on how the rest of the season plays out. Sugar
content has been averaging two percent, Bascom said,
and so far most all the syrup they have seen-including
syrup brought in by Vermont and New Hampshire producers
for bulk sale to Bascoms-has been of the top
two grades. But dark syrups would not be expected this
early, he added.
Bascom Maple Farms is one of the largest producers
of maple syrup in New England, and also a major supplier
of maple products to packers, distributors, manufacturers,
retailers and other food businesses. Demand
continues very strong for real maple syrup, but wholesa
le ma r ket p r i ces are l argely d et e r m i n ed by the
C an adian s up ply, which domin ates the mark et. Bul k
syr up prices are un de r pressur e f rom l arge supplie s
and favo rab l e Canad i an d ollar ex chan ge rates that
draw more syrup across the border. Currently the top
gra de s of syrup are brin ging $ 2.20/poun d delivered,
Bascom said, compared to $2.35/pound last year at this
time.
M ap l e pro du cer an d forme r C omm i s sione r St eve
Taylor, was recently quoted in the Rural Blog explaining
t hat "c h e a per sy r u p fr o m t he Qu e b e c c a r t el h a s
knocked 10-15 percent off the historic highs of a couple
of years ago for bulk ('barrel') syrup, plus what some of
u s fea r i s o ve r-exp ansio n dow n her e, e specially in
Vermont where seems like everybody has doubled tap
numbers in the past five years and could be heading us
o nt o t he p at h of dair y where th ere ' s too m uch milk
pressing prices downward. We shall see."
The Ne w H ampshire maple in dustry c on tin ue s to
spawn i n n ov a ti o n. " A y o u n g g u y na m e d Clay t on
Christie, from Henniker, is becoming a force in maple
e quipm ent ," T ay l or noted re ce ntly. Ch r ist i e' s f i r m ,
Maple Expert Solutions, manufactures reverse-osmosis
(RO) and releaser equipment, including the recent sale
of a large double RO machines to Bruce Bascom.
A c ivil engi ne er who grew up in the s tat e's map le
industry, Christie builds his machines using off-the-shelf
components, unlike others that require expensive prop
rietary par ts for re pa i rs an d ma i ntenan c e. Ba scom
says their machine operates with a variable-speed drive
and converts their si ngle-phase power to th re e-phase
for additional energy efficiency. Christie's website says,
"If you, the producer, bring a problem to MES, we will
work to design a so lution. Whether designing a pump
station or a feature you woul d like in an RO, we will
come up with a usable and progressive solution to the
problem. Our recently work includes pre-heating steama-
way air, pre-heating sap entering steam-a-ways, custom
automation for reverse osmosis, remote pump station
monitoring, and much more."
The maple industry got some attention last week by
joining together across multiple states to demand that
the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) crack down
on fake maple products that display misleading labeling
and packaging. "This unchecked misbra ndin g has an
adverse impact on manufacturers of products containing
real maple Syrup" and "deceives c onsumers," the
letter charges.


----------



## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

I hope they do well. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

I wonder how long ours will last this year. They just started last week and now have a forecast with temps in the mid 60's, lows in the 40's next week.


----------



## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

Sounds like what we have going on here. I tapped two weeks early. I have another 200 to put in. Overproduction will be an issue going forward in the market. One thing I have noticed is the big time guys that rely on RO don't have that traditional distinctive maple flavor. You have to have boil time to get that flavor. So soon we will face overproduction and low quality thereby decreasing demand further suppressing prices.


----------



## JeffMNY (Jan 5, 2014)

We tapped the third week of January and are glad we did. We have gotten some nice runs and have made quite a bit of syrup so far. From the looks of next weeks forecast we could be nearing the end i'm afraid. There are still quite a few people around here that haven't even tapped yet, or just recently did.

Hillside Hay I agree with you. There just doesn't seem to be the nice flavor with the syrup made from RO sap. We help a friend with his open house and he has moved the date up this year figuring a short season. Also the feeling is the price of bulk syrup will be down again this year.


----------



## atgreene (May 19, 2013)

We started tapping last week. We've missed a couple small runs, but are looking long-term hoping for a dragged out season. Averaging 3%, which is standard for us. One night this week is predicted not to freeze, beyond that it looks average weather-wise.


----------



## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Extended forecast here has it abovefreeziong for the next week. I will believe it when I see it. If the extended forecast was right for the past two weeks, it would have been perfect weather for two weeks.

I got the rest of my taps in last weekend. Nice flow Saturday then froze all week until yesterday.


----------



## atgreene (May 19, 2013)

Still not all tapped. Have at least 200 more we could put in, not many freezing nights in the forecast. Still looking long term and hoping it trends colder.


----------



## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

atgreene said:


> Still not all tapped. Have at least 200 more we could put in, not many freezing nights in the forecast. Still looking long term and hoping it trends colder.


Hoping the same here. Has not frozen since Monday morning. Now forecast says no freeze til Wed. May be a light syrup year here.


----------



## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

Buckets down here. Season all over.


----------



## Shetland Sheepdog (Mar 31, 2011)

78º yesterday, down to 55 overnight and up to 70 with rain today.  don't make for a good run!  Wouldn't be surprised to see buds popping directly! :angry: We got pussy willows already!


----------



## atgreene (May 19, 2013)

I bought my ro membranes from Clay, good guy.

Season is still limping along. Nothing crazy, but fits and starts are getting us there. Looks to go a while longer, boiled in the snow yesterday.

And it's been running sweet, 3% or so. Dropped back a little this week, but I'll take what I can get.


----------



## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

Like you window display of samples. Is that a sample of every boil? That is neat to see the progression over the season.


----------



## atgreene (May 19, 2013)

It is. We had 15+ years worth all in order, but a bad storm blew the window in and they all fell, breaking a bunch and jumbling them up. Fun for people to look at, especially when they are sequential and show syrup darkening as the season goes on.


----------

