National maple production off 17% in 2021, Vermont off 21%

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Maple syrup production across the country was off just under 17% in 2021 while in Vermont, the nation’s top maple producer, production was off by just over 21%, according to statistics released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The drop in production was due to poor sugaring weather, including a run of 70 degree days during prime sugaring season and low sugar content in tree sap. They combined to cause one of the shortest maple seasons in over a decade for producers in Vermont.

“Folks were anywhere from 50 to 75% of a normal crop across the board this season,” said Allison Hope, the executive director of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association. “It a big difference for people.”

She said low sugar content is usually variable within a state, but this year producers across the country were reporting it. She didn’t have a good explanation.

The 2021 Northeast Region Maple Syrup report from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service included a national production figure of 3.4 million gallons, but it only included production figures for five northeastern states, Vermont, at 1.5 million; New York, 647,000; Maine, 495,000; Pennsylvania, 165,000 and New Hampshire, 127,000.

National maple production off 17% in 2021, Vermont off 21%

Hope said this year’s federal statistics don’t match those that were released last year. She was seeking an explanation for the difference.

Hope said the season was cut short by a run of warm weather in late March that caused the maple trees to bud, which ends the season.

“It felt like a group of events that were conspiring against the sugaring industry this year,” she said.