WESTHAMPTON — For more than 45 years, Bridgmont Farms in Westhampton has been in the business of maple syrup production. For decades, maple sugar was ideal for farms like Bridgmont to produce in early spring, when the animals still are indoors and the soil still can’t sustain most crops.
This year, however, Bridgmont Farms began tapping its maple trees on Feb. 15 — the earliest time ever its owners can recall.
“I can’t remember when we’ve had an open winter like this without snow,” said Mary Montague, who with her husband Peter is the seventh generation running Bridgmont. “The weather is very bizarre, but it’s what the weather is now, I guess.”
In order to create proper maple syrup, certain weather conditions need to be in effect. It needs to be above freezing during the day, but below freezing at night, causing the sap to unthaw and maintain a sweet flavor. Once the weather begins to warm up further, the tree begins to bud, causing the sap to darken and have a bitter flavor unsuitable for syrup, ending the production season.
Massachusetts has experienced an extraordinarily mild winter this year, including the warmest January on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The 40- and 50-degree weather in the daytime throughout much of January and February has caused the state’s syrup makers to begin tapping trees weeks earlier than is usually anticipated.
“You’re always trying to figure out, is this time to set or do we need to wait awhile longer,” Montague said. “We usually figure around President’s Day is a good time to start, but lots of people have started earlier this year and they’ve gotten some syrup.”
According to data from the United States Department of Agriculture, maple production has been starting earlier in recent years. From the four-year time period from 2015 to 2018, the latest years available for measurement in the state, the average start date for maple production retracted 24 days, from March 14 to Feb. 18.
A 2020 report by the USDA’s Climate Change Resource Center also notes that climate change is likely to have a significant impact on maple syrup production nationwide, citing a survey saying 59% of maple producers have already seen early tapping seasons.
“The early arrival of spring has a negative impact on the industry, as this can shorten the sap season by inducing early bud break. Warm temperatures can also increase the growth of microorganisms, leading to the premature clogging of tap holes,” the report says. “By the end of the century, under a high emissions scenario, the midpoint of the sap collection season is predicted to occur a month earlier.”
For now,. however, the overall length of the tapping season hasn’t changed for Massachusetts maple producers, and total sales and gallons produced have also remained consistent. But with warming weather, farms and sugar shacks are wary that an extended warm front might put an early end to the season.
“You don’t know what kind of season it’s going to be until it’s over,” said Shelly Boisvert, the owner of North Hadley Sugar Shack with her husband Joe. “We are concerned on how long the season will be. It might be over before the end of March.”
Boisvert said that this year was not the earliest the shack has ever begun production, but with the warm weather she was concerned about an early end. The sugar shack allows customers to visit during the production season to see the process and be served breakfast of pancakes with maple syrup. If customers aren’t aware of an expedited sugar season, the shack may lose out on business.
“Most people are happy when it’s in the 50s and 60s in February, but for us it’s a little too beautiful,” she said. “It’s definitely a different winter.”
Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.
