MAPLE SIRUP PRODUCERS MANUAL 



Table 3.— Rank of States in production of maple sugar, selected years, 1926-71 



ECONOMICS 



Maple sirup, a noncultivated, nonfertilized 

 crop derived from trees of the farm woodlot, 

 provides supplemental cash incomes for many 

 farmers, and it is the major cash crop for some 

 farmers {2A, 26, 132, lUO, U2). The trees on 1 

 acre will provide 160 tapholes and an average 

 yield of 1 quart of sirup per taphole, or 40 

 gallons of sirup per acre. At $10 per gallon, this 

 sirup provides an annual per-acre gross income 

 of $400. 



With the advent of the central evaporator 

 plant, maple sap became a marketable commod- 

 ity. Annual gross income for sap ranges from 

 900 to $2.50 per taphole for sap delivered at the 

 evaporator plant. 



The maple season is short and comes in the 

 early spring when most other farm activities 

 are slowest. Thus, it does not compete with 

 other farm activities. Because the season oc- 

 curs when off-farm employment is at a seasonal 

 low, it fits well into a part-time farming pro- 

 gram. 



Surveys in New York (5, 8), Ohio (63), Michi- 

 gan {92), and Wisconsin (113) have shown that 

 earnings from the production of maple sirup 

 are among the highest on the farm. Wages 

 average $3 per hour with a high of more than 

 $5 for every hour spent in cleaning equipment, 

 tapping trees, installing and taking down equip- 

 ment, and collecting and boiling the sap. 



With the high annual cash crop and high 

 wages earned in producing sap and sirup, it is 

 difficult to understand why only 1 of 20 tappa- 

 ble maple trees is being utilized. However, until 



recently maple sirup production methods were 

 antiquated, at least when compared to modern 

 methods of crop and livestock farming, and the 

 unfavorable working conditions made sap col- 

 lection and sirupmaking unattractive. 



Both equipment and processing methods are 

 being modernized. Modernization should do 

 much toward making maple sap and sirup pro- 

 duction more attractive (71, U3). This moderni- 

 zation includes plastic pipelines for collecting 

 and transporting sap; taphole germicidal pel- 

 lets; sanitary practices in tapping and sap han- 

 dling; oil-fired evaporators; improved methods 

 for evaporating sap, filtering sirup, and packag- 

 ing the products; and the central evaporator 

 plant. All these changes have reduced labor 

 requirements and production costs, and have 

 contributed to producing better grades of sirup 

 that have a correspondingly greater value. Be- 

 cause of the relatively high fixed costs for 

 producing sirup on the farm, net income may be 

 too low when sap from fewer than 500 tapholes 

 is available, and the sap could be more profita- 

 bly sold to a central plant. 



Sirup can be sold immediately to produce 

 ready cash, or it can be held for a more favora- 

 ble market or as a supply of raw material for 

 producing more profitable maple products. If 

 the sirup is held, it can be used as collateral for 

 short-term loans. 



Since 1940, the proportion of the maple sirup 

 produced in the United States that has been 

 sold directly to the consumer by the producer 



