Warm Weather Means Rough Year for Syrup Makers


The unusually high temps are leaving some maple producers fearing for their yields, and some are tapping their trees earlier than usual in hopes of gathering the most sugary sap before it’s gone. One farm decided to not tap at all this year: “With the energy cost and labor, it just wasn’t worth tapping 500 trees and gathering the sap and boiling it down,’’ says Turtle Lane Maple Farm owner Paul Boulanger, who says he would have to boil down more than double the amount of sap to produce the same amount of syrup. What a difference a year makes. [Globe]