Sugar maple trees are tapped in late winter/early spring for sap, which is boiled down (approximately 40:1 sap-to-syrup ratio) to produce maple syrup. Thrives in cool, moist climates in Zones 3-8, preferring well-drained upland soils. Modern vacuum tubing systems have significantly improved commercial production efficiency.
Crop Snowflake Score
/acre
/acre
/acre
years
Overview
Growing Season
- Plant
- spring or fall – spring or fall
- Harvest
- late Feb to early Apr (tapping season) – late Feb to early Apr (tapping season)
- Frost-free days
- 80+
Yield
- Typical yield
- 24 gallons syrup/acre
- Productive lifespan
- 100 years
- Years to full prod.
- 40
- Labor
- 500 hrs/acre
Market Fit
Active Regional Buyers
1 active buyer on record purchasing this crop.
Price Trend Stable/Up
3-year price trend recorded as "stable".
Supply Below Demand
2 of 5 documented channels rate viability "strong". Sold into regional rather than national markets, syrup supply here generally trails that demand.
Multiple Buyer Channels
5 of 5 documented market channels rate viable or better (direct_to_consumer, farmers_market, wholesale, retail). Multiple independent routes to market.
Value-Added Potential
3 viable direct-market channels (direct_to_consumer, farmers_market, restaurant). Supports value-added and margin capture beyond wholesale.
Market Growth Projected
Specialty syrup segment; consumer demand for regionally grown specialty produce has been expanding.
Market Channels
Climate Fit
Hardiness Zone Match
Crop tolerates zones 3-8; region spans 5-6. Overlaps.
GDD Sufficient
Crop GDD minimum not recorded. Region accumulates 2500+ GDD (base 50F), sufficient for most temperate crops.
Precipitation Compatible
Crop needs ~15 in; region receives ~38 in/yr. Compatible, irrigation available as supplement.
Frost-Free Season OK
Crop needs 80 frost-free days; region provides ~180. Sufficient.
Chill Hours Met
Perennial. Region's zone 5-6 winters deliver well over 1,000 chill hours, ample for temperate perennials.
Climate Trend Favorable
Crop spans 6 hardiness zones (3-8). Wide adaptive range buffers against warming trend.
Fit by region
The farm matcher, run on each region's cited climate normals. Soil and site are not included here; add your own on the match page.
Limited by high-severity risks. 6 criteria evaluated, 1 not yet researched; 100% cited.
Limited by high-severity risks. 6 criteria evaluated, 1 not yet researched; 100% cited.
Limited by high-severity risks. 6 criteria evaluated, 1 not yet researched; 100% cited.
Climate envelope & site
What the farm matcher compares your conditions against.
Climate envelope
- Hardiness zone
- 3–8
- Frost-free season
- 80+ days
- Heat (GDD base 50°F)
- not yet recorded
- Winter chill
- 2,500+ hours
- Rainfall
- 20–80 in/yr
Below the minimum, irrigation is needed; above the maximum the crop fails.
- Soil pH target
- 5.5–7.3
Extension lime target; within 1.0 of it is correctable.
Site & structure
- Spring frost at bloom
- not yet recorded
- Needs cold-air drainage
- yes — avoid frost pockets
- Shade tolerance
- full
- Mature height
- not yet recorded
- Rooting depth
- not yet recorded
- Wind exposure tolerance
- not yet recorded
- Workable slope
- not yet recorded
Height, rooting depth and shade tolerance are the inputs an alley or guild layout needs.
Soil Compatibility
Soil Texture
Drainage
Infrastructure Fit
Equipment Compatible
7 of 8 documented equipment items are crop-specific (88%) against a catalog median of 29%. Above-median share of purpose-built equipment, implying real capital outlay.
Storage Available
4 documented storage routes; at least one (Refrigerated (opened containers)) is reachable with conventional on-farm or third-party facilities.
Irrigation Compatible
Requires ~15 in. Deliverable with conventional drip or overhead irrigation.
Field Layout Suitable
Suited to the small-to-mid-size fragmented parcels typical of the region.
Labor Availability
500 labor hr/ac vs catalog 75th percentile 250 hr/ac. Labor-intensive — competes for scarce seasonal labor.
Processing Proximity
1 processor/cooperative buyer on record for this crop.
Equipment Requirements
harvesting
Carries sap from tap to sugarhouse under vacuum. Replaces bucket collection and is the basis of modern yields per tap.
Vacuum substantially increases sap yield per tap and is what makes a compressed season economically survivable.
Health spouts replaced on a regular cycle to limit microbial contamination of tapholes and preserve tree health.
post_harvest
Removes 75% or more of water before the evaporator, cutting boiling time 50-75% and fuel use by up to 66%. Commercial units start around $3,000.
Finishes sap to syrup density. A larger traditional evaporator costs $4,000 or more excluding fuel.
Removes niter (sugar sand) to meet grade and clarity standards for retail and bulk sale.
Density measurement to the legal syrup standard; underdensity spoils, overdensity crystallises.
general
Houses evaporation and packing. Requires ventilation for steam and food-grade surfaces for packing.
Storage Requirements
Hot-pack sealed containers (cool, dark)
Temperature
50–70°F
Max Storage
730 days
Refrigerated (opened containers)
Temperature
33–40°F
Max Storage
180 days
Frozen (long-term)
Temperature
0–10°F
Bulk food-grade drums
Temperature
40–60°F
Max Storage
365 days
Financial Return
Revenue Above Average
Gross revenue $900/ac vs catalog median $6,000/ac. Below median.
Input Costs Acceptable
Annual operating cost $900/ac vs catalog 75th percentile $6,300/ac. Within typical range.
Payback Period OK
Reaches full production in 40 years. Long establishment — capital tied up 40 years before full return.
Insurance Available
Federal crop insurance or an equivalent risk product is available.
Revenue Per Labor Hour
Net return per labor hour $0.00 ($1/ac over 500 hr/ac) vs catalog median $13.16. Below median.
Grants/Subsidies
No specialty-crop or cover-crop incentive program identified for this syrup crop.
Economics Breakdown
| Avg Price/Unit | $37/per gallon syrup |
| Gross Revenue/Acre | $900 |
| Annual Operating Cost | $900/acre |
| Establishment Cost | $2,500/acre |
| Total Input Cost | —/acre |
| Net Return/Acre | $1 |
| Revenue/Labor Hour | — |
| Crop Insurance | Available |
Source: Cornell Cooperative Extension, Penn State Extension, USDA RMA, regional budget studies (2025)
Risk Profile
Manageable Pest/Disease
4 of 8 documented risks are high-severity (50%) against a catalog median of 36%. Above-median concentration of high-severity risk, demanding intensive management.
Market Diversified
5 viable market channels of 5 documented, plus 1 named buyer. Not dependent on a single outlet.
Low Establishment Risk
40 years to full production at $2,500/ac establishment cost. Multi-year capital commitment before first full return.
Climate Resilient
Tolerates zones 3-8 (6 zones). Broad tolerance indicates resilience to seasonal variability.
Regulatory Burden Low
No crop-specific licensing or reporting regime beyond standard food-safety and pesticide rules.
Diversifies Portfolio
Adds a syrup revenue stream distinct from the region's grape-dominated base.
Known Risks
pest
Non-native invasive borer identified as the headline threat to sugar maple. Infestation triggers regulatory removal of host trees, destroying decades of sugarbush capital in a single season.
Periodic outbreak defoliator. Repeated defoliation reduces stored carbohydrate, lowering sap sugar content and, over successive years, tree vigour.
Outbreak defoliator of northern hardwoods; heavy years strip crowns in mid to late summer.
Late-season leaf skeletoniser. Damage is largely cosmetic in isolation but compounds other defoliation in outbreak years.
Leaf-mining and cutting damage during population peaks, reducing effective leaf area.
environmental
Extension identifies management-inflicted damage — soil compaction and logging wounds — among the main threats to sugarbush health. Damage is cumulative and effectively permanent on the scale of a tapping rotation.
Extension flags loss of diversity as a risk factor: a pure sugar maple stand carries concentrated exposure to any single maple-specific pest or pathogen.
climate
Sap flow requires alternating freeze and thaw. Shortening and shifting of that window, and reduced snowpack insulating the root zone, directly compress the tapping season.
Nutritional Yield
Macronutrients
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per acre |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 260 kcal | 312,000 kcal |
| Protein | 0 g | 48 g |
| Total fat | 0.1 g | 72 g |
| Carbohydrates | 67 g | 80,448 g |
| Fiber | 0 g | 0 g |
| Sugar | 60.5 g | 72,552 g |
Key micronutrients
Uncertainty: Per-acre values are estimates that compound the yield range, edible-fraction assumption, and a single representative nutrient panel. Treat them as order-of-magnitude planning numbers, not nutritional advice. Confidence: high.
Ecosystem Services
Carbon sequestration
- Standing forest carbonhigh
A tapped sugarbush is working forest. Trees remain standing and accumulating carbon across a production life measured in many decades, while yielding an annual crop — a combination essentially unique among the crops in this catalogue.
Applies when: Contingent on the sugarbush being retained as forest rather than converted.Evidence: Extension guidance·Confidence: high
Biodiversity
- Intact forest habitathigh
Production requires maintaining a functioning hardwood stand. Extension guidance to retain species diversity when thinning means a well-managed sugarbush supports substantially more forest-interior habitat than any field crop.
Applies when: Strongest where thinning retains non-maple components rather than releasing maple exclusively.Evidence: Extension guidance·Confidence: high
Water regulation
- Forest hydrology and snowpack retentionhigh
Continuous forest canopy and undisturbed forest floor moderate snowmelt timing, sustain infiltration, and reduce peak runoff relative to open land on the same terrain.
Evidence: Extension guidance·Confidence: medium
Soil health
- Permanently undisturbed forest soilhigh
No tillage occurs at any point. The principal soil risk is compaction from management traffic, which is why extension guidance restricts machinery to designated trails and frozen ground.
Applies when: Benefit is lost where machinery operates off-trail on unfrozen ground.Evidence: Extension guidance·Confidence: high
Climate adaptation
- Economic incentive to retain forest covermoderate
Sugarbush income gives landowners a recurring financial reason to keep land forested rather than convert it, which is itself a durable climate-adaptation outcome at the landscape scale.
Evidence: Extension guidance·Confidence: medium
Cultivars
Named varieties and what the sources say sets each apart. A cultivar-specific zone, chill or maturity figure overrides the species value above.
No cultivars recorded yet for this crop.
Grows With / Avoid Near
Documented interactions with other catalog crops — shared pests, allelopathy, rotation effects, alley and understory pairings — for companion, guild and rotation planning. Plan a combination with Maple Syrup →
Avoid near, or plan around (8)
Grows with (5)
Direction matters: a rotation benefit of A before B says nothing about B before A. Interactions are documented pairs only; absence is a research gap, not a clean bill.
Nearby Buyers
Data Sources
Every data point on this page is traceable to its source. Below you'll find the complete provenance trail — which sources were used, when data was last verified, and a full change history.
Primary sources: Data sourced from Cornell Cooperative Extension, Penn State Extension, USDA resources, and regional research.
Economics data year: 2025 · Basis: lake erie
47 tracked changes across 4 data categories