UVM maple specialist outlines shifting management, research and new syrup-testing lab

Mark Islart, maple specialist and leader of the University of Vermont Extension maple program, told members of the Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry committee that maple production is changing in ways that affect forest health, yields and market quality.

"I'm not here as in any sort of capacity to influence or lobby. It's really just to share knowledge and give you an update on what we see in terms of trends," Islart said at the start of his presentation. He described the program's three main areas: sugar-bush health and management, sustainable high yields of sap and syrup, and syrup quality, and said the program focuses on the whole production chain "from tree to bottle."

Islart described how harvesting techniques have evolved from buckets to tubing and continuous vacuum systems. He said modern management and materials, when used with best practices, can roughly double sap and sugar harvest compared with traditional bucket collection. "In the last 25 years on average the amount of syrup per tap has increased 60%," he said, attributing gains to tubing, vacuum pumps capable of running 24/7, and improved system management.

Why it matters: Vermont remains a central maple producer. Islart said the state manages about 140,000 acres of sugar bush, "which represents over half of all the acres in the country," and produces more than half the national crop. That scale, he said, makes Vermont trends important for producers and policy discussions.

Research and tree health

Islart emphasized a cautious approach to claims about long-term tree health. He described a multiyear Proctor study that has grouped trees into no-tapping, gravity-only, and high-vacuum treatments and said the experiment is now in its 14th year. "After that long period ... we're not seeing differences in the growth," Islart said, noting growth is the primary measure used so far and that other chronic effects remain under study.

He said the research is site-limited and that duplication in other locations would strengthen conclusions: long-term forest studies are costly and slow, and funding for long-duration projects is limited.

Forest management and certification

Responding to questions about biodiversity and modern orchard-style planting, Islart said the industry is shifting toward thinking about management "per acre" rather than simply counting taps. He noted many certifiers require a minimum of 25% non-sugar-maple species within a managed sugar bush to meet organic standards; producers who meet those standards may receive a market premium.

Islart also said tapping across the state remains a small fraction of total potential: "broadly across the state, we are maybe tapping 5 to 10% of the potential taps," though the figure is uneven and in parts of Franklin County he estimated tapping as high as 50%.

Public lands and wildlife

Committee members and producers raised questions about access to public lands and wildlife interactions with tubing systems. Islart said limited tapping does occur on state and federal lands under permit and case-by-case review, and that graduate students are using game cameras to study wildlife use in sugar bushes. He cautioned that some concerns reflect limited data or local unfamiliarity with modern tubing systems rather than widespread, uniform environmental conflict.

Market structure and quality control

A committee member asked about Quebec's system; Islart described Quebec's supply-management and centralized marketing system, noting it exports roughly 60% of its crop and that those market arrangements directly affect prices paid to Vermont producers.

Islart announced that UVM Extension has launched a maple syrup quality testing lab that offers impartial, instrument-based assessments of whether syrup meets Grade A standards and provides technical assistance to producers whose samples do not meet those standards. "Letting producers have a third-party assessment of quality that isn't a transaction between a buyer and seller" was presented as a measure to protect the industry's reputation amid rapid growth of the bulk market, which Islart said has grown from about half of the crop 25 years ago to roughly 90% today.

Takeaways and next steps

Committee members thanked Islart, and he offered to share contact information and suggested possible field trips to demonstration sites. The briefing provided an overview of production trends, identified gaps in long-term research and announced the new quality testing capacity at UVM Extension.

The committee did not take formal action during the session; committee members indicated interest in further technical briefings and a possible field visit.