The Official U.S. Maple Syrup Almanac -- 2017 Alamanc_2017 | Page 7

HIGHLIGHTS SEASON
OF
THE
2017 maple industry at a glance. What people were talking about …
RANDY SPRAGUE of
Portville, N.Y. is one of
the principals in Asarasi a
new carbonated beverage
made from RO permeate.
Beverages boom
More and more the bev-
erage side of the maple
industry seems to be gain-
ing ground in 2017. Car-
bonated maple waters are
showing up on more store
shelves. Raw sap beverages
are seen in major supermar-
kets. And one company
launched this year, called
Asarasi, is making a pure
carbonated beverage out
of RO permeate water and
has plans to buy perme-
ate for as much as ten cents
per gallon from sugarmak-
ers around the Northeast.
Industry experts hope that
major beverage companies
take notice and get into
the maple water game. “If
Pepsi gets ahold of this, we
will run out of trees to tap,”
one expert says.
U.S. Maple Syrup Almanac
High brix goes mainstream
The rapid advancements in technology have helped sugarmakers
make more syrup with less and less energy. The new high brix sys-
tem by Lapierre Equipment and H20 Innovation allow sugarmakers
to process using 35 percent concentrate or higher. At the Proctor
Maple Research Center, part of the University of Vermont, Timothy
Perkins this season was boiling on a high brix machine donated by
Lapierre and reported that it was easy and highly efficient process,
enjoying a continuous draw and outstanding quality syrup.
MIDDLEFIELD,
OHIO sugarmak-
er and equip-
ment dealer
Erwin Gingerich
unloads an 8,000
gal Lapierre tank
for a customer.
Expansion continues
Sugarmakers were adding more and more taps at a contin-
ued rapid pace, despite a laggard bulk price. The United States
had 13,341,000 taps in all in 2017, according to the USDA’s
National Agricultural Statistics Service, leaping over last year’s tap
count total of 12,552,000. One of the indicators was the rela-
tive shortage of big holding tanks. By fall, they were hard to find
and on back order from the major equipment makers. In the
spring, jugs were also scarce. Quart sized plastic containers were
nowhere to be found, with many dealers running out.
2017
OFFICIAL UNITED STATES
T
H
E
Maple Syrup
Almanac
2017
5TH EDITION
The data contained in
this almanac derives
from the annual
survey conducted
by the National
Agricultural Statistics
Service (NASS). The
names, addresses, and
personal identifiers
are fully protected
by NASS with the
force of law. After
data collection, NASS
processes the data
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Original paper
questionnaires are
kept in a secure area,
and then destroyed
as prescribed by law.
Names, addresses,
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and other personal
identifiers are held
securely by NASS
and used only to
conduct official
business. Title 7, U.S.
Code, Section 2276
and the Confidential
Information
Protection and
Statistical Efficiency
Act prohibit public
disclosure of
individual information.
Personal information,
including reported
data, is protected
from legal subpoena
and Freedom of
Information Act
requests.
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