Warmer weather means early harvests for southwestern Ontario's maple syrup producers

Southwestern Ontario's maple syrup producers have been tapping their trees early as unseasonably warm temperatures led to early thaws.

Maple trees are usually tapped between mid-February to mid-March, when temperatures typically reach above zero during the day and below freezing at night.

"We actually started tapping near the end of January with that first warm spell. We've made a fair bit of syrup already," said Joel Robson, one of the owners of Rolling Ridge Maple Products, an Ilderton sugarbush owned and operated by three generations of his family.

Over the past few years, early tapping has become increasingly common, Robson said, adding this year may have featured one of the earliest starts to the season he has seen in five decades.

"This is probably the earliest we've tapped the majority of our trees," he said of the roughly 15,000 taps on his farm. "It's nice. This is one of those few years we could have fresh syrup for pancake Tuesday."

Still, despite an early start and the potential for a long season, the possibility of temperatures staying too warm for too long looms, said Robson.

That's a concern shared by Samuel Bergen, the owner and founder of Great Lakes Sugarbush in Aylmer, Ont., who tapped his trees on January 30th almost one week earlier than he ever has before.

"Maple syrup has everything to do with weather," Bergen said. "As soon as you start getting the freezing at night and the thawing in the day, that's when Maple syrup runs. Since we had an early start, the trees could start budding early, and then it cuts the season short."

All it takes is two weeks of above-zero temperatures to end a tapping season, he said.

Both producers are still confident that this year's harvests will produce enough syrup, and maple-flavoured products to satisfy their customers.

According to Bergen, his farm could produce around 4,000 litres of syrup from the 2,000 trees he has tapped.

Embracing the strong culture of maple syrup production in southwestern Ontario is also on top a priority of both Great Lakes Sugarbush, and Rolling Ridge Maple Products, both owners said.

For Bergen, whose sugarbush doesn't feature tours, that means selling quality products at his storefront. In Robson's experience, that means sharing the process with customers on their tours.

"The big thing is getting a lot of families out to the bush and sharing in that culture," said Robson.