Global Maple Syrup Crisis! Schumer Wants to Tap More

The cost of maple syrup has skyrocketed due to increased demand and depleted supply. Last year, a warm April shortened the tapping season in Quebec to 3 days, instead of the normal 20; now the retail cost of syrup has soared to over $100 a gallon. Quebec, "the OPEC of maple syrup," produced 5.35 million gallons last year, more than 70 percent of the global supply. (By comparison, Vermont produced just 500,000 gallons, and New York produced a pitiful 322,000 gallons.) Quebec produces more because it taps over a third of its trees, and Senator Chuck Schumer would like to see New York State and the rest of the nation get a bigger share of the maple syrup riches. This week he co-sponsored a bill to help small American producers get access to trees on private land and to create centralized storage and bottling plants. Schumer tells the Times, "Listen to this, we have 289 million maple trees in New York, but we tap less than one-half of 1 percent of them. It's a large, untapped resource, shall we say." Something tells us the only reason Schumer sponsored this bill is so he could make with the goofy puns.

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By John Del Signore in Food on March 11, 2009 3:37 PM

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Spirit of 76

On the other hand, maple syrup production has a terrible carbon footprint. It takes burning vast amounts of wood to boil off the enough water from maple sap to make syrup. Aside from the impact on climate change, there's the deforestation angle. Syracuse in upstate used to boil water from their salt springs to make salt in the 19th century. Within a few decades, they had cleared enormous swaths of trees and didn't have enough wood to burn anymore.

What's with Gothamist's crappy servers? Here we are four months after the big "upgrade" and major problems still persist with comments not posting even after several minutes, just the spinning gear that MovableType swiped from the Mac boot sequence (they can't even come up with something original). MovableType really sucks. They fix some bugs only to introduce new ones. They're the Microsoft of blogging software.

jpeditor

"On the other hand, maple syrup production has a terrible carbon footprint."

Pardon my cough...

"A review of the research literature concerning the environmental consequences of increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide leads to the conclusion that increases during the 20th and early 21st centuries have produced no deleterious effects upon Earth's weather and climate. Increased carbon dioxide has, however, markedly increased plant growth. Predictions of harmful climatic effects due to future increases in hydrocarbon use and minor greenhouse gases like CO2 do not conform to current experimental knowledge. The environmental effects of rapid expansion of the nuclear and hydrocarbon energy industries are discussed...."

more at http://www.oism.org/pproject/s33p36.htm

And more than 30,000 American scientists have agreed that Kyoto is BS...

http://www.petitionproject.org/

virgil

True. This is why most sugarers who can afford it have invested in osmosis machines which filter out a high percentage of the water before the boiling process. Saves an enormous amount of fuel--oil, wood, etc. and speeds the process. Tastes just as good, too.

The outlay isn't cheap--something like 10K, but they say it pays for itself very quickly.

snessnyc

Maybe the notion flew past you twits, but maple syrup is an agricultural product with the potential to bring increased employment and income to upstate. With upstate having a virtually moribund economy for decades now, this actually could be pretty important. And real maple syrup is luxury product that commands a premium price. We elect our officials for just this sort of thing. I'm no big Chuck fan, but if he can bring home the bacon (and put some maple syrup on it) then more power to him. I suppose that if one of your uber-conservative darlings had proposed this, you would be ready to crown him king.

jpeditor

"I suppose that if one of your uber-conservative darlings had proposed this, you would be ready to crown him king."

I have an idea where I can build a new and biggger computer server business, but only if Schmuck Chumer passes a bill that gives me access to everyone else's computer in their home when they are away, so I can use their unused processor power.

My plan will only work if Schmuck and I get to decide how much I pay for the use of your computer, and you can't block me from access to your HD.

My plan has "...the potential to bring increased employment and income ..."

"...With [NY] state having a virtually moribund economy for {coming] decades , this actually could be pretty important."

And anyone who objects would have to pay an opt-out fee, and have their computer surveyed...

"I suppose that since I am not one of your uber-Obammunist darlings, and if I had proposed this with Bush's backing, you would be ready to march in the streets demanding I be swapped with some jihadi for his bed in gitmo."

Spirit of 76

On the other hand, maple syrup production has a terrible carbon footprint. It takes burning vast amounts of wood to boil off the enough water from maple sap to make syrup. Aside from the impact on climate change, there's the deforestation angle. Syracuse in upstate used to boil water from their salt springs to make salt in the 19th century. Within a few decades, they had cleared enormous swaths of trees and didn't have enough wood to burn anymore.

nik13

I don't disagree about economic benefit of ulitisation of each & every of alleged 289M maple trees in NY, but this state is so inimical to any business enterprise, I am not surprised we let Canucks control that market.

Not sure how a week-long tree-tappling would revive moribubud upstate economy. I think year-long over-taxation & over-regulation have something to do with it.

Chuckie would tax maple syrup $90 per gallon, if allowed.

schizofriendly

increased demand and depleted supply

I blame this outrage on the surplus of Master Cleansers in this town...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_Cleanse

nik13

Some things are more important than maple syrup. I wish Chuckie got equally excited when oil hit $140 last year. I don't remember him calling for exploration of untapped oil & gas reserves. By the way, most ingredients in artificial flavors, like those found in food-store quality maple syrup are made through wonders of modern organic chemistry from natural gas & oil.

drewo

This week he co-sponsored a bill to help small American producers get access to trees on private land

Right - who cares about property rights anyway, right Chuckie?

ides_of_march

Property rights? What's that? It would not surprize me if that bolshevik Schumer sponsored a bill to have people dragged out of their homes so their organs could be forceably harvested for transplants.

jpeditor

And then Chuck would charge the families for the bullet.

CR

#6 - Shuuuuush! Don't tell him the trees are Black!

rdsizzle

Its rare that you see a racist also be an environmentalist. Interesting combo…Taping maple trees responsibly is completely harmless. I think we have much bigger worries…

ides_of_march

Perhaps one day you too may become acquainted with the concept of sarcasm and irony.

Humorless twit.

Spirit of 76

And perhaps one day, you might actually be funny. On second thought, you already are funny, just not the way you think.

ides_of_march

Time to develop more sustainable and enviromentally friendly forms of viscous pancake sweetener instead of raping the trees and draining them of their life blood.

Down with Big Syrup!