Schumer Bill to Boost Distributed Maple Syrup Production

According to Cornell University, New York has more than 280 million maple trees with syrup-producing potential, but only 1% are currently tapped. One of the obstacles is that some three-quarters of the state’s maple trees are located on private land, including on relatively small parcels dispersed throughout rural and suburban communities. Legislation that Senator Schumer intends to introduce as part of the 2012 Farm Bill, the Maple Tap Act, would provide the USDA with grants of up to $20 million a year to states that create programs to encourage individual land owners to open up their trees to maple tapping. Making it easier for maple syrup producers to tap a network of trees located on private land could generate more than $82 million in revenue for New York State.