MALTA — Tariffs on Canada — the world’s leading maple producer — may put New York maple producers in a sticky situation, as it could make the already pricey product and process more expensive.
Many would assume that stakeholders in New York’s maple industry — the second highest maple producing state, only behind Vermont — would be celebrating as tariffs push people to purchase domestic maple products. But Erich Ruger, owner of Sugar Oak Farms in Saratoga County, explained the industry’s deep-rooted relationship with Canada complicates things.
“Most of the equipment that we use — the tubing, the taps, the evaporators, the vacuum releasers, the vacuum pumps, the tanks — all that comes from Canada,” Ruger said.
Adam Wild, director of Cornell University’s Uihlein Maple Research Forest and co-director of the Cornell Maple Program, said that equipment costs had already increased in the past five years and because of that “the margins for profit have been very slim for maple producers.”
Wild explained that the maple industry is inherently expensive, as maple producers are collecting a raw product and transforming it. He compared it to apple farmers turning every apple into applesauce. The tariffs could impact maple producers’ bottom line, Wild said, and challenge their viability.
A maple producer can easily spend $100,000 on just an evaporator, which is only one of the many stainless-steel supplies needed for maple production, Wild said. Financial expenses are compounded by how labor-intensive it is as producers drill a hole and add a spout to each tree.
“You can’t really mechanize it,” Wild said. “It’s still very boots on the ground, and snowshoes, walking to each tree, tapping each tree to get ready for the season.”
Maple producers in New York echoed the prominence of Canada in the U.S. industry, like Jim Carpenter of Saratoga Maple, who said even the bottles they use come from Canada. Carpenter said, “It’s really hard to get around that.”
A boost in sales in February, which is usually a slow month for Saratoga Maple, was an unexpected positive impact Carpenter saw from the threatened tariffs. Carpenter said, “As soon as people started talking about tariffs on Canada — we had a really, really good February. We think that people were trying to get ahead of it.”
In time, Carpenter expects their price for syrup will go up to compensate for the increased expense of supplies. The tariffs “hurt the overall industry,” Carpenter said, by increasing the price of real maple syrup, adding that anything that restricts people of different income levels access from “having something real is bad.”
“Every day, more of the syrup poured in the U.S. is artificial syrup,” Carpenter said. “Anything that we can do to encourage people to use the real product — whether it’s U.S. or Canadian — is a win for everybody.”
The New York State Maple Producers Association noted that compared to corn syrup, honey, brown sugar and white sugar, maple syrup had the lowest calories, while also having benefits of manganese, riboflavin, zinc, magnesium, calcium and potassium. The association organizes Maple Weekend on March 22 and 23 and March 29 and 30, two consecutive weekends where maple producers across the state host free tours and offer free samples. Certain locations are also hosting pancake breakfasts.
While the tariffs are a new obstacle to navigate, the maple industry is experiencing an “old-fashioned winter,” Wild said, with thaws holding off until the end of February. In the past few years, thaws started as early as January.
While climate change has moved the start of maple season up, Wild said, it’s also shortened it. Sap doesn’t flow every day, he said, only when it’s above freezing. This may only account for 15 to 30 days.
“We need freezing and thawing cycles for that flow,” Wild said. “If it gets too warm, then we don’t have that freezing period, which helps recharge the trees.”
