Dec. 17 is recognized as National Maple Syrup Day
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
A sticky Canadian ag product is in the spotlight for National Maple Syrup Day.
Every Dec. 17, maple syrup receives its praise for its contribution to Canada’s identity and the product’s ability to enhance several food dishes.
Canada’s 11,468 maple farms turned maple sap into 12.5 million gallons of syrup in 2017, Statistics Canada says. Ontario produced 425,000 gallons of the sweet substance.
Richard Bering, a fourth-generation producer from White Meadows Farms, a 5,000-tree operation in St. Catharines, Ont., serves as one of Canada’s maple syrup producers.
As with other branches of the ag industry, syrup producers need Mother Nature’s cooperation to ensure a quality product.
“Our (2018) production season was kind of low,” he told Farms.com. “We had a really strange weather pattern at the beginning of the season. It was really warm at the end of February and it got cool after that. So. in the later part of March when we get the most of our sap, it was fairly slow. If it was a little cooler towards the end of February, I think we would’ve had a better season.”
A unique element of maple syrup production, Bering said, is the daily surprises.
“Day to day operation can be all over the place,” he said. “You never know how much sap you’re bringing in on a daily basis and how much you’re going to have to process. It definitely keeps us on our toes.”
In terms of provincial production levels, Ontario ranks second after Quebec for Canadian maple syrup production.
Quebec leads the country in terms of the total number of farms (7,863), number of taps (42.5 million) and production (11.49 million gallons).
Overall, Quebec produced 92 per cent of Canada’s maple syrup in 2017.
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