Ontario Maple Syrup Industry Report for June 21, 2017

Do you have a water contingency plan?

In 2016, many areas of the province saw very warm and dry conditions, creating challenges for sugar bush health, and for horticulture and field crop producers. Many wells were still dry leading into the winter.  In other years, like the start of the 2017 growing season, the province experienced periods of excessive rain, leading to saturated soils and flooding.

No one can control the weather, but we can plan for it. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) encourages you to plan for future weather – conserving water and using it efficiently can help during low water conditions, and having effective drainage systems in place can help with saturated soils and runoff.

Ontario Maple Syrup Industry Report, May 19, 2017

New – Food Safety and Traceability online courses!

Give your company a competitive edge – take free eLearning courses to learn more about industry best practices and to be more competitive in the marketplace!

Access the new Food Safety and Traceability eLearning courses online on the Agriculture and Food Education in Ontario online learning system through the University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus.

Ontario Maple Syrup Production Report for April 19, 2017

The season ends

The maple syrup processing season for 2017 is now completed in all regions of Ontario.  Thank you to all the maple syrup producers who took the time to provide sap flow and syrup crop reports during the production year.  The maple report would not be possible without producer assistance.

Sap and syrup activity

The latest syrup producing areas in the north are boiling their last batch of sap and syrup this week, after a busy final few days of sap runs.  Buddy off-flavours are now present as sugar maple buds have pushed out of winter dormancy.  In northern regions, snow remains in some areas on north facing hills.

Ontario Maple Syrup Production Report for April 7, 2017

Sap flow activity

Sap harvest and maple syrup production finished two weeks ago in earliest southwestern areas. Mid-season regions were still processing new syrup over this past week and mid-season producers will be harvesting the last sap runs this coming weekend, April 7-9.

The forecasted weather predicts very warm temperatures for next week in all southern regions, which will push maple buds out of dormancy.  The north will continue for at least one or two more weeks.

Ontario Maple Syrup Production Report, March 31, 2017

This past week has been very busy in many maple producing regions across the province.  Earliest regions are finished for the year, while mid and late-season areas were still in full production.  It has been a good production season so far for many producers.

Although winter started off with odd mild weather that made many people wonder about the maple syrup season, it was a reminder that we need to be patient, not jump to conclusions on the productivity of the season until start-to-finish has actually happened. With each maple syrup season, we never know the final crop yield or syrup quality until bud growth dictates that it is finished.  We aren’t done yet.

Ontario Maple Syrup Production Report for March 24, 2017

Maple syrup production in Ontario is underway in all regions. Good sap flow was reported in many areas of the province early this past week followed by a temporary freeze up.  The quality and flavour of syrup is reported exceptionally nice this spring and all colour grades are now available.

Plan to visit a Local sugar bush to taste fresh Ontario maple syrup, or take part in the upcoming province-wide Maple Weekend activities, first weekend of April. The forecasted sap flow weather is looking very promising in the coming week and should keep syrup producers very busy.

The Ontario Maple Syrup Production Report for March 10, 2017

The past week summary

In southern areas this past week, large volumes of clear sap ran early in the week from hard maples and soft maples with no buddy off-flavours detected yet. Sap sugar concentration has trended downward as would be expected during the latter half of the processing season.  Soft maple: 1.5 ⁰Brix, hard maple: 1.6 to 1.8 ⁰Brix.  In central areas, sap sugar ranged widely from 1.7 to 2.4 ⁰Brix.

Syrup colour is Golden and Amber with excellent maple flavour and high quality. There are average and above average amounts of sugar sand but no reports of difficulties with filtering syrup.