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Mild weather threatens  $5M maple syrup output

Cris Barnett, chief naturalist with the Greene County Parks and Trails, hangs a bucket after tapping a maple tree Friday at the Narrows Reserve. Barnett said warm weather will probably slow sap production, driving up the price of maple syrup.

Chris Stewart/Dayton Daily News Staff Photogra Cris Barnett, chief naturalist with the Greene County Parks and Trails, hangs a bucket after tapping a maple tree Friday at the Narrows Reserve. Barnett said warm weather will probably slow sap production, driving up the price of maple syrup.

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By Steve Bennish, Staff Writer Updated 11:59 PM Friday, February 10, 2012

Unusually mild winter weather has some in the maple syrup industry concerned that production this year might not be great, but a producer here says it’s too early to tell.

Carol Dohner of Dohner’s Maple Camp in Phillipsburg on Friday said there’s plenty more winter to come — and she’s not putting much stock in expert predictions. Last year’s production hit a record, she added.

“There’s just no way to tell,” she said. “We’ll have some more winter yet.”

Ohio ranks from 4th to 5th each year among the 12 maple product producing states, the Ohio Maple Producers Association said.

There are about 900 families that produce nearly 100,000 gallons of maple syrup each year. That generates from $5 million to $6 million in income. Good maple syrup production needs freezing temparatures at night and temperatures that can get into the 40s during the day. If the weather warms up too early in the year — especially for several or more days running – that can make the syrup bitter and end the production season. That happens when trees start showing buds.

And production can vary greatly from year to year. Dohner said she’s seen years with no production all the way up to 450 gallons. “We did that last year,” Dohner, who sells mostly at the Second Street Market downtown, said.

On Friday, her husband Dean planned to be out past nightfall gathering syrup because the warmer weather has started a flow.

In Michigan, it’s predicted that warm winter could mean less syrup from maple trees. Larry Haigh, president of the Michigan Maple Syrup Association, told The Associated Press that he’s “not overly optimistic” about a bumper crop. But Haigh said that with more frost, it’s not too late to have a decent season.

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