Maple syrup producers in N.B. hope Mother Nature provides proper ingredients for a banner year

Weather conditions are “looking good” for an ideal season for New Brunswick’s lucrative, multi-million dollar maple syrup industry, producers say.

New Brunswick is actually the third largest maple syrup producer in North America, following behind Quebec and Vermont, producing more than three million kilograms of maple syrup per year.

That generated revenue of over $33 million in 2017, with the province’s maple syrup exported to over 35 countries.

“Prices are basically around $3.00 a pound, so when you have a lot of trees and a lot of syrup made, it can translate into millions of dollars for the industry here in the province,” explained David Briggs, the president of the North American Maple Syrup Council.

The maple syrup season is about to get into full swing across the province. And with warm days and cools nights, it’s the perfect recipe for syrup-making weather.

“There’s hardly any snow. It’s really good going. You don’t need snow shoes, so it’s looking good,” explained Darrell Trites, a third generation producer just outside Moncton.

“It’s something like the people that run the sawmills. They have sawdust in their blood, we have maple syrup in our blood.”

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Some producers are already boiling sap.

“Boiled three times already,” said Dale Renton, while tapping trees and setting up the sugar shack that’s been in his family since the 1800s. “Three times in February is unusual.”

It’s an industry that relies solely on Mother Nature, and she is a wild card.

“She’s got all of the cards,” Trites said.