Maple Syrup in Ohio

Maple Nutrition: Maple Monthly REVIEW

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You might have spent some of the last month or so under a rock if you have not caught at least a glimpse of month’s REVIEW article, actually presentation.  Much ado has been made of the research presented at the 2023 American Society for Nutrition conference, “Substituting refined sugars with maple syrup decreases key cardiometabolic risk factors in individuals with mild metabolic alterations, a randomized, double-blind, controlled crossover trial.”  The hubbub surrounding the research has landed the work across major news outlets, morning talk shows, health blogs and podcasts, and of course, the Maple Syrup Digest.

Do some searches for Dr. Andre Marette and Dr. Marie-Claude Vohl’s recent research trial or open the latest issue of the Maple Syrup Digest, and you will have tons of information at your fingertips.  Here’s the skinny on the research.  You or I would recognize the study participants as normal-looking, average Americans – not fitness models, but certainly not too unhealthy either.  Everybody in the trial participated in both sides of the experiment, but participants did not know when they participated in each half.  The beauty of this design is that each participant serves as his or her own control for optimal comparability.  In one half of the experiment, participants supplemented their daily nutrition intake with a flavored sucrose syrup, and then participants flip-flopped to consuming a couple tablespoons of the real McCoy – maple syrup.

Here are the key takeaways put as simply as possible:

1) Maple syrup helped participants manage their blood sugar levels, which has obvious implications for diabetes-related risk.

2) Maple syrup consumers had a lower blood pressure, which reduces risk for cardiovascular disease.

3) Maple syrup slowed the accumulation of android fat, a double whammy health benefit.

In short, this new research trial is some of the clearest and most irrefutable evidence for maple syrup health benefits yet!  In a more wordy paragraph and excerpted from a 2022 review paper on maple syrup, here’s a great synopsis of the health benefits of maple.

Of the many natural sweeteners, maple syrup is recognized as a much superior alternative to refined sugar for not only its mineral content, but also for its high concentration of phenolic compounds with bioactivity properties, i.e., anti-mutagenic, anti-radical, antioxidant, and anti-cancer.  Compared to dextrose, corn syrup and brown rice syrup, maple syrup brings about lower glucose and insulin responses, which make it a healthier substitute for refined sugars in our diet.

Memorize that block quote to recite next time a potential customer is waffling at whether or not to pony up some hard-earned cash for your delicious maple syrup.

Upcoming Maple Events

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Working from long-range calendar planning to close-range events, we are excited about the upcoming slew of maple events.  There is literally something for everybody!

Join us for the 2023 Ohio Maple Days in Ashland, Ohio, December 8th and 9th for 2 days of instructional workshops, food and fellowship, and a Saturday full of technical talks for both advanced sugarmakers and beginners.  We kick things off at 1 PM on Friday with a value-added workshop that will teach participants how to make maple sugar, maple cream, maple candy, maple cotton candy, and even some maple-infused breakfast sausage links.  The Ohio Maple Producers Association is hosting a maple contest with banquet blowout Friday night with the full conference agenda on Saturday.  During Saturday afternoon, we are excited to offer a beginner’s track to explore the basics of maple and an advanced track that will focus on sugarhouse design, marking your woods for a crop tree release timber harvest, and more.  And by popular demand, we are bringing back hydrometer testing – so please mark your calendars for December 8th and 9th.  We will post the registration details as soon as they go live.

Lake Erie Maple Expo is slated for November 10-11 in Albion, PA.  This popular event has an excellent list of sessions and speakers on tap for participants.  I for one have never been in attendance but will be changing that this year.  I hope to see a few familiar faces there!

The week prior to LEME on November 3rd and 4th, the Ohio Maple Producers will be hosting their annual meeting – stay tuned or check their website for details!

Sturbridge, Massachusetts, will be the hosting location for this year’s North American Maple Conference from October 25-28.  This is the BIG show with an absolutely packed slate of tours, meetings, technical workshops, and great meals.  You can find registration details here.  If that’s not enough for you, the International Maple Grading School will be offered October 29th and 30th just down the road in Grafton, MA.

A bit more local, we are excited to be offering a tandem webinar/workshop in collaboration with the University of Kentucky.  The webinar – evening of September 11th –  will be a basic introduction to all things maple in order to whet new producers’ appetites and lure them out to the in-person event in Boone County, KY, on Monday, October 16th.

Sandwiched in between those 2 events, please consider joining us down in southwestern Ohio Saturday, September 16th for a workshop in partnership with the Cincinnati Zoo.  Registration details are live on the Ohio Woodland Stewards Program website.  In conjunction with the workshop, participants will have a chance to shop and browse at the Zoo’s Native Plant Nursery there on site at Bowyer Farm.

And last but not least, Pennsylvania is hosting Maple Boot Camp on September 6th-8 prefaced by a Maple Grading Workshop the morning of that Wednesday.  Boot Camp is the brain child of the 3-state OH/PA/WV, and it is the Keystone State’s turn to host.  We are excited about this in-depth, deep dive into maple sugaring and hope to repeat the success of last year’s Boot Camp in Ohio.

I’ll be sprinkling reminders here and there as different registration deadlines loom, but I hope to cross paths with you at least once, if not multiple times, throughout the fall maple programming season.  Lots of options to choose from!!

Maple Cost-Share Assistance – NRCS EQIP Program

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Special thanks to Keith Libben & Timothy Fulks for writing this article for the OSU Maple site!

The USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) has long been a well-known resource for agricultural producers in Ohio, especially with our livestock producers and our crop farmers.  Their Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is the flagship conservation program for NRCS and has provided millions of dollars in incentives to producers over the years to address resource concerns that negatively impact soil, water, air, and animal health.

EQIP works by providing farmers, ranchers, and forest owners financial incentives to install conservation practices that help address resource concerns.  Common practices funded include cover crops, manure storage systems, and nutrient management planning.  But did you know that EQIP can now assist Ohio’s maple syrup producers?  Recent changes to the practices available in Ohio intended to improve air quality can now provide some assistance in the sugar shack.  The practices available are intended to improve air quality by improving efficiency in the sugar shack and in turn reducing emissions from burning fossil fuels or wood.  Practices that are currently eligible include reverse osmosis systems, sap pre-heaters, and improved efficiency evaporators.

Interested in getting some financial assistance to make some upgrades at the sugar shack?  This is the general process:

  • Producers need to reach out to their local NRCS field office or Soil and Water Conservation District and get an application in for EQIP.
  • From there, NRCS will coordinate with you to set up a time to visit your sugar bush and assess your operation. Other professionals may be necessary to determine what practices may be appropriate for your operation.
  • NRCS will use this information to develop a conservation plan and cost share estimate. Once this is complete, your application will be submitted for ranking and consideration for funding.
  • NRCS will reach out to you if your application has been selected for funding. Now the ball is in  your court to decide if you want to sign a contract for the funding assistance.  If you sign the contract, you agree to install the required practices per all relevant NRCS standards and specifications.
  • Once installation of the practices is complete and verified, you’ll receive your contracted financial incentive.

It is important to not think of EQIP as solely a coupon to get a steep discount for a new evaporator or reverse osmosis unit.  Such narrow thinking will probably not result in a competitive conservation plan.  Rather, leverage EQIP to design a more holistic approach to improving your overall property.  Additional woodland, wildlife, or cropland practices can also be applied to increase your plan’s ranking score and up the odds of being successful.  Talk to your local NRCS office today to see how they may be able to help!

Additional Questions:

How much cost-assistance will I receive?  NRCS re-evaluates costs of implementing practices on a yearly basis.  For most successful applicants, they will receive their contracted payment of 75% of the projected cost upon completion.  For historically underserved applicants, the cost share rate is set to 90%.

What are the maple-specific EQIP practice codes?  Practice 228 Agricultural Energy Assessment and Practice 374 Energy Efficient Agricultural Operation are the codes that can be leveraged for evaporators, sap preheaters, and reverse osmosis units.

When do I need to get my EQIP application submitted?  NRCS accepts new applications on a continual basis, meaning there is no true deadline.  However, submitted applications do join a stack of documents for the next ranking session which typically occurs in late fall.

 

Remember to join us on Saturday, December 9th for the 2023 Ohio Maple Days.  One of our featured afternoon speakers this year will discuss EQIP’s cost-share opportunities for maple producers in detail.  Registration should go live in late July-early August.

Ohio 2023 Season Summary – “A Tale of Two Halves of Ohio”

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I think everyone would agree the 2023 maple season was anything but normal.  It started with a fierce snowstorm in late December and ended with a chaotic mixture of warm and cold days.  If you are an Ohio maple syrup producer, how your season went seems to be a matter of location, location, location.  This winter was either too warm, too cold, or just right.  Depending on where you live and when you tapped, it was either all good or all bad.  Once again, Mother Nature had the final say.

The season kicked off early despite a surge of extremely cold weather at Christmas time, but warm weather arrived shortly after New Year’s.  The one thing Ohio producers have learned, when it looks and feels like tapping weather, you tap.  This year, many producers – I can confidently say more producers than normal – in both Northern and Southern Ohio started tapping in January.  Those tapping in early January experienced strong runs going into February, but many early tappers saw sap flow slow or completely shut off going into March.  The weather in February largely determined the success of your season.

Southern Ohio producers saw sap flow and sap quality end by the first week of March at the latest, many producers didn’t even make it out of February.  The jet stream kept the cold air pushed north, but abnormally warm temperatures plagued the southern part of the state.  More northern producers had strong sap runs into St. Patrick’s Day and beyond.  For the calendar tappers who traditionally waited until mid-February to tap, the season was average at best.  Overall, it was “ A Tale of Two Cities.”  Some northern Ohio producers experienced one of the best seasons in recent decades, but many southern producers experienced one of the worst production seasons in recent memory.

For producers who will associate the 2023 season with more positive memories, syrup quality held up remarkably well despite a season with so much variability.  Ohio made lots of Golden Delicate and Amber grade syrup.  The flavor was excellent for the most part until the warm weather ended the season.  Even then, a lot of lighter grade syrup was made right up until the last boil.  The biggest problem was filtering, excessive niter made it very difficult to filter and that high niter was reported from many producers statewide.  One of the reasons for outstanding yields was the good sugar content of the sap, averaging close to 2%.  Once again, the best yields were achieved on high vacuum tubing systems, but many bucket/bag producers had a good season as well.

Maple syrup is made all over the Buckeye State, but Geauga County is the number one maple syrup producing county in Ohio.  This year, the county lived up to its reputation in a big way, and production records were set across the county.  It was not uncommon to see syrup yields hitting or exceeding a half gallon per tap being produced.

Another Topsy Turvy 2023 Maple Season

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Our 2023 maple season was yet another sub-par year subjected to early and frequent warm spells.  2023 marks the 3rd consecutive year that our first run of the season ended not because temperatures took a prolonged dive below freezing but because temperatures spiked into the upper 50’s or low 60’s.  Three years in a row!  Crappie fishing weather to end the first run of the season!  Starting off a season with a warm temperature spike sets the table for sanitation issues, and those challenges were forefront to yet another Ohio maple season.  For all practical purposes, our production season at the Ohio State Maple woods was over by March 1st.

Early tappers were rewarded this year making the most out of a tough season.  A few producers up north are holding out for a final run or two before also switching to post-season tear down and cleaning duties.  How the entire state fares is yet to be determined, but the individual producers I have spoken with are not ecstatic over the year’s production totals.  The bottom line is that Ohio appears poised to enter, heck we might already be in, a new normal.  Though spring is temporarily stalled with the current slight cool down, spring invaded winter like a unexpected marauding army.  To get an idea of just how early 2023’s spring has been, check out the time-lapse map from the National Phenology Network.

Regardless of whether you are a producer up north with a few more days of boiling on your horizon or if the season is a memory at this point, be sure to check out Future Generations University’s webinar next Thursday evening.  On March 16th at 7 PM, the Out of the Woods semianr series will focus on post-season sanitation.  Mike Rechlin and Kate Fotos are going to share best practice guidelines on keeping your sugarhouse and your sugarbush spic and span headed into the off-season.  You can watch the webinar on Youtube or get your own registration link through Zoom here.

More Upcoming Maple Events

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We’re tapped and the production system is flushed and tight with great vacuum.  Many thanks to our students and technicians for getting the 2023 sap season underway!

Join the OSU Extension team on March 1st for the annual Woodland, Water, and Wildlife Conference.  Kathy Smith and Gabe Karns will be presenting a seminar early in the agenda titled “Woodland Owners, Maple Syrup, and the New Maple Toolbox.”  Book your whole day with us though as many other interesting topics will be covered including buckeye tree conservation, aquatic plants and wetlands, Ohio snakes, spotted lanternfly updates, urban coyotes, and more.

If you are a consulting forester, work with a natural resource agency, or are otherwise employed within the environmental and natural resource career field, please join us on March 15th for an in-service workshop customized for you!  Learn how to assess a woodlands potential, what equipment will be needed, what options are available to a landowner interested in maple sugaring, and what else is needed to establish an operation as an income opportunity.

Maple Sap-Only Enterprises – Participants NEEDED

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Chris Lindgren and Dana Ruppert from University of Vermont are recruiting active or prospective maple sap-only producers to participate in a research project.

UVM Extension Maple Business is developing financial tools and technical guidance to help folks make decisions about maple sap business ventures.  To jump start this effort, they are currently conducting a Producer Survey to gather in-depth information on sap business economic activity across the maple region.  It is hoped that the information gained from the study will help maple sap producers understand and learn more about production practices, costs and markets to enhance business opportunities.  Production, marketing, business practices and peoples’ interest in the maple sap project and resources are at the heart of this survey.  Their goal is to reach as many regional sugarmakers and sap producers as we can over the next couple months.  The results of this survey will be published by UVM Extension, shared in industry publications and discussed at maple conferences beginning in 2023.

To take the survey – and remember this is for sap-only enterprises – please scan the QR code or visit Sap Survey at the Maple Manager website now.

This is a great opportunity to help the maple research community continue to build support and tools for all varieties and styles of maple operations.

Not Just Sugar Maples – Part I

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Ohio Maple Days 2022 did not disappoint.  The food was fantastic, the vendor room crowded, and the presenters shared a wealth of knowledge of expertise across a wide range of subjects.  I was among those speakers, and Abby van den Berg and I presented a pair of talks that focused on those other maples.  Abby’s perspective from Vermont and focused mainly on pure red maples (come back for Part II next week for those highlights), and my perspective sharing from the basis of our ACER-funded research on Acer freemanii, Freeman’s maple, or just “rilver” for short.  Before we get into it, be sure to mark your calendars for next year’s conference December 8th and 9th!

Let’s try this recap in a series of short statements.

1) Sugar maples are the gold standard for maple syrup production – there is no disputing that.

2) But other maple species probably deserve more love than they have traditionally been given.

3) Mounting pressures from climate change, forest pests, and a host of other reasons make other maple species more important to consider than ever before.

4) Because of the above, it makes sense to learn more about other maple species production potential.

5) We thought we had simple (red x silver) hybrid maples in the OSU Mansfield research sugarbush where we have our single-tree research stations.

6) We thought wrong.  Turns out the hybrid maples are more mysterious than that – stay tuned for further genetic testing!

7) Regardless of what other variety of maple we are working with it still made sense to compare their production potential and other characteristics to sugar maple.

8) Research began in the 2021 as we pulled over 20 sugar maples and 50 of the mystery maples into single-tree sap collection chambers that measured daily performance.

9) Research techs and research PI quickly learned that maple research can be icy cold!

10) The 2021 season was historically bad and we had 5 roller coaster runs total.

11) During the 2021 season, our mystery maples were not as sweet overall as sugar maples, however, the mystery maples held a more stable Brix level from the start of the season to finish.

12) Mystery maples lost ground to sugar maples in terms of sap production volume as the season got later and later.

13) Surprised yet?  Maybe not.  But consider this – the best half of our mystery maples OUTPERFORMED the worst half of our sugar maples in terms of syrup production potential.  Would that also hold true for 2022?

14) Fast forward 11 months to yet another choppy, wild, and erratic 2022 sap season.  When will we have another “normal” sap season?

15) Note to self, might have to add another 10 degrees to y-axis of Sap Run graph in 2023.  I surely hope not!!

16) More in line with studies elsewhere, our 2022 mystery maple trial trees matched or outpaced sugar maple’s sap volume production up until the final sap run of the year.

17) Brix consistently tracked 0.2-0.4 points below for mystery maples as compared to sugar maples.

18) Ultimately, we’re excited and hopeful for a “normal” 2023 season to collect data from a more representatively average season.

19) In the interim, both years suggest that mystery maples are not to be overlooked especially if you are an operator using reverse osmosis in your sugarhouse looking to expand your number of taps.

20) Stay tuned for 2023 – our 3rd year of ACER-funded research investigating alternative maple species production potential.

Ohio Maple Days & Workshop Registration DEADLINE Approaching

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Registration is sneaking up for the Friday & Saturday festivities surrounding Ohio Maple Days.

In order of their occurrence, Mark Cannella is hosting a maple business workshop representing by University of Vermont on Friday, December 9th.  Mark is offering this half day workshop with a focus on strategic planning, marketing and managing finances toward profitability.  Participants are encouraged to bring any business records and information of their own to apply during the workshop.  There are 4 SAF category 1 continuing education credits offered for the day.  Space is limited and seats are running out – register now!

Friday evening, you do not want to miss out on the One Sweet Gathering fundraising banquet thrown by the Ohio Maple Producers Association.  Register here!

And of course the main event on December 10th, Saturday for Ohio Maple Days.  We will meet again at Ashland University’s John C. Meyer Convocation Center for a jam-packed program on all things maple.  Updates on red maple research from both Ohio State’s Gabe Karns and the University of Vermont’s Proctor Maple Research Center’s Abby van den Berg.  Add to this other talks on reverse osmosis, marketing and insects impacting maple trees.  A maple themed lunch and a vendor room that features a variety of maple equipment dealers, consulting foresters and other associated equipment help round out the day.  There are also SAF continuing education credits available for the program.  Registration here.