Maple syrup production down 21% in Vermont

The 2021 Vermont maple syrup production totaled 1.54 million gallons, down 21% from the previous year, according to Pam Hird, New England state statistician of the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, New England Field Office (NASS). 

Vermont maple syrup producers set out 5.90 million maple taps in 2021, an increase of 4% from the 2020 total. Yield per tap is estimated to be 0.261 gallons, down from 0.342 gallons the previous season. Location played a significant part in individual production. The earliest sap flow reported was January 25 in Vermont. On average, the season lasted 28 days, compared with 38 days in 2020.  

Vermont’s 2020 value of production totaled $52.7 million, down 9% from the previous season. The average retail price per gallon was up 2% at $45.50 per gallon.  

Vermont’s Agriculture Secretary Anson Tebbetts added, “Mother Nature was the story in 2021. Vermont maple producers were faced with wild weather changes, ups and downs, starts and stops. But as always Vermont producers rode the waves and produced another national leading high quality crop.” 

Vermont remains the top producing state in the nation. Vermont has led the U.S. in the number of maple taps every year since 1916 and was outproduced only in 1926 and 1918. In 2003 Vermont set 2.12 million taps, and has been steadily increasing to 5.90 million in 2021.

Annual production prior to 1935 was typically between 1 million and 1.4 million gallons. This dropped to around 200,000 to 300,000 gallons in the 1970s. Since 2003 Vermont’s maple syrup production has increased from around 500,000 gallons to 1.54 million gallons in 2021.