Warm winter cuts sugar production

An unusually warm winter caused Vancouver Island maple sugar production to fall to 30% of normal levels this year.

Island-made syrup and sugar from big leaf maple trees has seen growing popularity during the past decade but this year's supply was drastically reduced without the cold weather that makes trees send sap upward into the trunk.

For the Sapsuckers, a loose-knit group of maple sugar producers between Victoria and Campbell River, the results have been disappointing.

The fledgling sugar industry is so new to the Island there is insufficient data to know whether warm temperatures are responsible, but no one remembers this happening before.

"It's El Nino," said Gary Backlund of Ladysmith. "It was a real poor season. The sap was really dark."

Sap is the maple tree's natural antifreeze when temperatures drop below -4 C and this winter that only happened briefly in December.

"We've talked to other people who have been doing this a lot longer and they said this is the worst year ever."

Most people associate maple sugar with eastern Canada, but the big leaf maple is said to have considerable potential to expand sugar production in the West. The trees are the second-most abundant hardwood in North America.

The sap has more flavour than eastern sugar maples, but this year it was "a little too strong" for pancakes, Backlund said.

With El Nino typically cycling every 10 or 11 years, it's seen as a minor setback.

"I think it has a huge future," Backlund said.

He predicts niche tourist markets in future to include maple beer and wine and maple extract.

Island-made syrup is only sold privately, either directly from producers or at the annual maple sugar festival at the Duncan Forestry Discovery Centre.

source: canada