NYS Maple Producers Can Look Forward to a Sweet Season

In 2017, New York state maple producers made over 750,000 gallons of maple syrup, making New York the second largest maple producing state. With this year’s maple season underway, Stephen Childs, the Cornell Sugar Maple Program Director and a New York state maple specialist, says producers can look forward to a great 2018 season.

Childs provides educational instruction and resources to maple producers in New York state and helped develop the maple food safety guidelines for the New York State Grown & Certified program.

Bio: https://dnr.cals.cornell.edu/people/stephen-childs

Childs says:

“The maple season is underway in much of New York state. Some areas experienced sap runs in January, with the most extensive runs occurring this past week in February. The long-range forecast looks great for syrup production in much of the state in the coming week; although a few areas may still be a little too cold. 

“This should be a great season. Syrup flavors are great and weather looks good for the foreseeable future.

“Many maple producers are using tap hole sanitation technology developed in the last decade. This technology allows maple producers to tap earlier enabling them to catch the sap runs during January, without losing out on late March or April sap runs when the tap holes might have otherwise dried up.

“The Cornell Maple Program has a number of research projects in place between the Arnot Forest and the Uihlein Maple Research and Education Center. We’re analyzing time of tapping, tap hole sanitation, use of 3/16 tubing, sugar bush thinning, the influence of sap oxygen on maple flavor, production of alcohol and vinegar from maple sap, development of a maple-based energy drink and the impact of excluding white tailed deer for maple and oak regeneration.”


Cornell University has television, ISDN and dedicated Skype/Google+ Hangout studios available for media interviews.

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