Introduction to Maple Syrup Production Online

Posted on October 12, 2019 by Taylor in Beginning Farmers, Farming Practices, Farming Resources, Training Programs // 0 Comments

Introduction to Maple Syrup Production Online Course – Tap into the Syrup Possibilities on Your Farm

Maple syrup production is rapidly growing around the Northeast and offers a sound financial opportunity to utilize woodlots. Explore the range possibilities of maple sugaring on your land — be it for supplemental income or for your livelihood — with our online course, Introduction to Maple Syrup Production: Sugaring for Profit.

Introduction to Maple Syrup Production

November 5 – December 10

Webinars on Tuesday Evenings

7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. EST

Register Now

Along with helping you assess the potential for maple sugaring on your land, this course also covers “alternative” trees for production, including birch and black walnut. The content presented assumes the student has little past knowledge of sugaring, but a background in agriculture or forestry will be very helpful.

After competing the 6-week course, including hands-on practice, students will:

Identify potential opportunities for producing maple sap and syrup on your land
Develop and manage a forest stand for optimal maple sap production and long-term health and productivity
Understand the costs and benefits of utilizing buckets, bags, gravity tubing, or vacuum enhanced tubing systems to gather sap
Design a tubing system to achieve maximum sap yields in a cost-effective manner
Understand the pros and cons and logistics of buying sap or leasing taps as a means of expanding your production
Process sap into syrup in a cost effective manner that is size-appropriate
Filter, package, and label maple syrup for sale according to the new grading system developed by the International Maple Syrup Institute

The bulk of the course happens on your own time, with discussions, readings, and assignments in Teachable, our online course platform. To add to the experience, webinars will be woven into the interface of the course for 6 weeks each year to allow you to meet on a weekly basis to learn from presenters and ask questions in real time. If you miss one, they are always recorded and posted for later viewing.

Meet the Instructor:

Adam Wild is a maple enthusiast, Director of Cornell University’s Uihlein Maple Research Forest and the Cornell Maple Program Northern New York Maple Specialist. Located in Lake Placid, NY, the Uihlein Maple Research Forest, is a 200-acre forest conducting applied research and education for the maple industry. As director, Adam does research within their 5,600 commercial maple tap operation along with tapping and producing other tree syrups such as birch and beech.