Last year's unusual winter will mean a little less New York state maple syrup on the pancakes.
Syrup production dropped 11 percent from the previous year, with winter's warm start, combined with too few days this spring of the proper freeze-thaw cycle as the likely cause, said Bill Blackson, a statistician for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"To get the sap running, you need warm days and freezing nights. This year, it didn't turn out that way enough," he said.
When the temperature drops below freezing, the tree acts like a giant suction system, bringing sap out of its branches and down to the roots. When the temperature rises above freezing, the action is reversed, sending sap surging through branches -- and out of any opening, such as a hole drilled for a tap.
The state's farmers produced about 224,000 gallons of the syrup, still more than the all-time low of 180,000 gallons in 1993, but a far cry from the recent high of 343,000 gallons in 1996. During that period, annual production has averaged about 250,000 gallons. Maple syrup production records date to 1916.
Snow came late in January, followed by a long warm spell, and then by cold and blizzards that hit on Valentine's Day and the day before St. Patrick's Day. The inconsistent weather pattern made it difficult for consistent sap flow, said Blackson.
The first taps went into trees on Jan. 5 -- about two months earlier than normal -- because some producers were concerned that the early sap run would be short-lived. In addition, the sap that was produced had lower sugar content, and tended to be of a darker color, which is less valuable.
Winter's odd pattern affected the country's nine other maple-producing states as well. Nationwide, syrup production was down 13 percent from the previous year. Maine was particularly hard hit, with a 25 percent drop.
Global warming has been taking a toll on the Northeast's sugar maple trees, which prefer a wintry climate.
Tim Perkins, director of the Proctor Maple Research Center at the University of Vermont, who studied a half-century of maple sugaring records, found sap season now starts a week earlier and ends 10 days sooner than in the 1960s.
In New York, as winter retreats, sap is running ever earlier, according to figures from USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. In the five decades between 1940 and 1989, sap season began in February only twice, with the season traditionally beginning in mid- March. Since 1990, sap has started flowing in February six times.
This winter, some parts of the state fared better that others, said Mary Jeanne Packer, executive director of New York State Maple Producers Association. New York is the nation's second-largest producer behind Vermont.
"In the northern Adirondacks and on the west side of Lake Champlain, it was more normal. But in the southern Catskills and western New York, it was a pretty sad year," said Packer.
More farmers are turning to technology to help make up for poor weather. About 30 percent now use a tubing and vacuum system on at least some of their trees, which draws out sap regardless of conditions, she said.
Such systems can be expensive. That, along with the increasing cost of oil and natural gas used in the process of boiling sap into syrup, have been driving up the cost paid on the supermarket shelf.
A decade ago, a gallon of New York state syrup cost about $25.50, according to USDA. It is now $31.70.
"We are seeing some amount of scarcity fear going on. People who really love their syrup are worried they won't get all the way to next March," said Packer. "We are seeing some advance buying going on."
And there has been increasing demand for the darker syrup, which has been featured in some recent diets as a health benefit, she added.
Since darker sap is less sweet and must be boiled longer, it has a stronger flavor and greater concentration of healthy minerals like manganese and zinc. "There have been some celebrity chefs who have been cooking with the darker syrup for its benefits," Packer said.The Times Union
