Guess how much maple syrup NY farmers produced this year

New York maple farmers really tapped out their trees this year!

The USDA released a report Tuesday showing New York maple syrup production this season was up six percent. New York farmers produced 806 thousand gallons of syrup from an estimated 2.73 taps during the 2018 season. Analysts believe an extra-long syrup season contributed to the higher syrup output. This year, New York syrup producers had an average 52 days to make maple syrup, as opposed to an average of 43 days in 2017. Producers also saw more syrup per tap this year.

Nationally, the 2018 maple syrup production totaled 4.16 million gallons, down 3 percent from the previous year. Despite the decrease, the number of taps actually increased by 3 percent from the 2017 total.  The USDA estimates there are currently 13.7 million maples syrup taps across the U.S.

The earliest sap flow reported was January 7 in Pennsylvania. The latest sap flow reported to open the season was March 1 in Minnesota. On average, the season lasted 42 days, compared with 37 days in 2017.