Big swing in southern maple syrup harvest, sugar bush operator says

A certain sweet spot between hot and cold needs to be reached when harvesting sap for maple syrup – and at least one southern farm says this year's combination of weather is one for the history books.

Elmhurst Outdoors near Kingston is claiming its best year in its almost quarter century of collecting.

"Last year was probably our worst year on record and we were right on track with everyone else in southern New Brunswick," said Gig Keirstead, co-owner of the sugarbush. "This year, if we keep on going the way it's been going – and the weather does look like we are going to be on that track – we're going to have our best year."

The sweet spot for maple syrup

7 years ago

Duration 1:55

This is the best year for maple syrup according to a Kingston man. Elmhurst Outdoors is expected to collect 40 gallons

Keirstead said claiming his farm was able to collect 10 gallons of syrup last year, "would have been very generous."

But this year Elmhurst is on track to collect more than 40 gallons.

For sap to run freely through the 250 trees Keirstead is tapping, it requires a combination of cold nights and warm days.

Too much of either won't allow the sugary material to drain into the series of tubes and buckets he has hanging from the maples in his backyard.

According to the New Brunswick Maple Syrup Association, last year's season in the southern part of the province, involving all the farms around Saint John, Moncton and Fredericton, was incredibly short.

Harvesters were only able to collect 25 per cent of what they normally would, said association executive director Louise Poitras.

"It was very warm in the day time. It was warm in the night time also. There was no snow on the ground and so the coldness didn't stay," Poitras said.

New Brunswick has approximately 2.2 million taps producing 6.6 millions pounds of maple syrup, Poitras said. That totals close to $36 million in annual revenue, half of which is through exports to 60 countries like the United States, Germany, Japan, France and Spain.

Poitras said the basic formula needed for sap collection is for it to be above 5 C while the sun is up and below – 5 C at night for five days in a row.

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"Then it starts," she said.

The majority of New Brunswick's syrup farms are in the north of the province, Poitras said, near Bathurst, St. Quentin, Kedgwick and Edmundston. She added the north also saw record high yields last year, meaning the industry didn't suffer because of conditions.

Many farms in the north would only be beginning their collection now, so Poitras said it's too early to tell if Elmhurst's luck is an indicator for more of the province.

"But by the looks of the long range, I would assume the next two weeks are going to be pretty good for those guys too," Keirstead said.

Elmhurst's syrup is sold in-house to educational tours the farmer and his family give, largely to school children, where he teaches about the process of creating syrup and its history.

While last year was bad, he said the roughly 2,000 students that walk through his door annually and his cross-country skiing business on the side helps make up the difference.

He's also a patient man, seeing the forest for the trees.

"We don't make it a concern. Mother Nature's the boss and we deal with it," Keirstead said. "We do the best we can do with what we're dealt."