Warm winter, storm damage from Fiona could hamper N.S. maple syrup production

Maple syrup producers are bracing for an uncertain season as an unusually warm winter lingers in the province.

Nova Scotia saw one of the mildest Januarys on record this year, with warmer temperatures and less snowfall than usual.

For optimal sap flow, maples need cold, frosty nights of about –5 C and warmer, sunny days of about 5 C. 

"If it continues like this, it will be a poor year because you're just not going to have the flows," says Chris Hutchinson.

Hutchinson is the owner of Hutchinson Acres, which taps about 60,000 trees in the interior of western Nova Scotia, roughly between Aylesford and Bridgewater.

He says producers need cold weather to tap their trees because if they tap when it's warm, the spiles used for collecting sap fall out when the temperature drops.

"The whole month of December, January, we've never had more than one or two days with a minus."

Hutchinson had already tapped many of his trees in January, but when the province was hit with extreme cold in early February, about 40 per cent of his taps fell out, so he and his crew had to go around and pound them all back in.

He was busy in the woods tapping when he spoke with the CBC on the phone early Tuesday, but Hutchinson says it's possible he will miss some sap if he can't finish tapping in time.

Kevin McCormick, who operates McCormick's Maple, says the warm temperatures may also cause the season this year to be short. Without "real hard cold" days with consistent temperatures below 0 C, maple trees come out of their dormancy more quickly, and without snow cover, the sun warms the ground, contributing to that effect.

"So everything happens much faster.… The trees will just progress very quickly and go from dormancy to budding, which kind of ends the season," says McCormick, who has about 35,000 taps in Rodney, near Springhill.

In addition to producing maple syrup, McCormick sells equipment and supplies to producers, so he's regularly in contact with others in the industry across the Maritimes.

He says many producers are still grappling with the impact of post-tropical storm Fiona, which slammed the province with winds up to 171 km/h on Sept. 24, 2022.

Many trees were downed entirely, while others were left leaning or with damaged tops and weakened root systems, making some survivors more vulnerable to future storms — including lesser storms than Fiona.