Sweet!  N.B. rises to third on list of world's largest maple syrup producers

As maple syrup superpowers Quebec and Vermont struggled with poor late winter weather this past spring, sap flowed freely in New Brunswick and lifted the province into third place among the world's largest producers, new figures show.

"We had a good season, better than last year. That's all I can say, really," said Louise Poitras of the New Brunswick Maple Syrup Association.

On Wednesday, Statistics Canada reported New Brunswick produced a record 4.7 million kilograms (786,000 gallons) of maple syrup and related maple products earlier this year, a steep 40 per cent increase from 2020.

It was a rare good year among jurisdictions with producing maple trees, which are mostly clustered in eastern North America.  

Quebec is the dominant producer in the world with three-quarters of global maple syrup output in good years. But unfavourable weather in March reduced the flow of sap in temperamental maple trees, causing a 24 per cent decline in production.

Vermont, the world's second-largest player, suffered a similar 21 per cent decline, according to reports in the Burlington Free Press, while former number three in the world, New York state, was down 20 per cent.

The decline in New York coupled with the increase in New Brunswick had the two switching places on the list of the world's largest maple syrup producers. New Brunswick moved to third and New York fell to fourth.

Quebec producers made international headlines last month by announcing plans to release nearly 23 million kilograms of syrup stored in its "strategic reserve" to offset production shortfalls.

Sap normally flows best through maple trees in late winter or early spring when there are below freezing temperatures at night and above freezing temperatures during the day. 

Deviations from that pattern can disrupt flows significantly, which happened in almost all producing Canadian provinces and U.S. states this year, except New Brunswick.

"Mother nature is always a factor," Poitras said. "If we get good temperatures, good weather, then we have production.

"What happened in Quebec is they had a short season."

New Brunswick has become a maple syrup success story. It has tripled production over the last 15 years with the province devoting thousands of new hectares of Crown land to the industry. Estimates are producers made a record $31.7 million this year.

In a statement, the New Brunswick government said it was "pleased" to see the growth.

Ontario, which briefly tried to declare itself as Canada's second-largest syrup producer after New Brunswick had a poor year in 2018, also had production problems this year and fell further behind its rival.  

According to Statistics Canada, Ontario produced 2.8 million kilograms of syrup and related products in 2021, 41 per cent below production in New Brunswick.