Cold spring spurs hot maple syrup season in Wisconsin

Eric Lindquist, The Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, Wis.
·2 min read

May 1—EAU CLAIRE — Many Wisconsinites have been grumbling about the cold, damp weather that has dragged on for weeks, but the conditions hit the sweet spot for state maple syrup producers.

After a down year in 2021, this spring has been ideal for making the syrupy sweet treat commonly used to top pancakes and waffles.

"It's been an above average year for almost everyone," said Steve Anderson, owner of Anderson's Maple Syrup in Cumberland and president of the Wisconsin Maple Syrup Producer's Association. "A lot of people reported hitting records this year."

Unusually early warm spells in the last few years retrained syrup makers to tap their maple trees in February or early March, so people got nervous when the first sap runs at that time were weak this year, Anderson said. But lengthy cold spell led to big runs with good sugar content later in March and deep into April.

"This year everything was doing what it's supposed to do and doing it on the timeline that made sense over the last 50 or 100 years," he said.

Pete Roth, owner of Roth Sugar Bush in Cadott, said his operation finished collecting sap in late April — a month later than last year — and the extended season made for a strong harvest.

"It's been an exceptionally good year for most people," said Roth, whose family has been making syrup for generations. "The weather was just ideal to make syrup. It stayed cool and didn't get warm real fast."

It was the same story for Trainor's Maple Essence Farms west of Menomonie.

"It was a good season," said Ron Trainor, who owns the operation with his wife, Yvonne. "It started slow but then went on and on and on — just like the rotten weather went on and on and on. Rotten weather is good for maple syrup."

Syrup producers benefited from a long period of freezing temperatures at night followed by days that almost never exceeded 55 degrees.

As a result, the crop was up 25% this year for Maple Essence Farms, which finished making syrup about two weeks ago and sells its syrup in grocery stores throughout Wisconsin.

While weather plays a huge role in maple syrup production, the regional producers agreed that its variability can make it difficult to time the sap harvest.

"Most of us just make sure we're ready every day," said Anderson, whose company is the largest maple syrup packager in the Midwest and sells its products in more than 10,000 grocery stores from coast to coast.

With a plentiful supply of sugar maples, Wisconsin ranks fourth in the United States for maple syrup production behind Vermont, New York and Maine. Wisconsin's 850,000 taps produced 300,000 gallons of syrup in 2021, the highest level in at least 10 years.