John and Elaine Williams have added hundreds of taps to maple trees at Williams Family Farm in Clifton every year since first tapping two dozen or so in 2018. They’re now at almost 3,300 and will likely add another 400 or 500 next season — and they’re not alone.
The family sells maple products and bottled syrup at their farm shop and wholesale to local businesses. They’ve also sold barrels to Canada, New Hampshire and southern Maine in recent years, like other producers across Maine, who are seeing a strong market for syrup as the state’s output has roughly doubled since 2005.
Maine’s maple industry appears poised to become even more valuable in coming decades: demand is still growing amid heightened interest in natural foods and more aggressive marketing, while forest conditions could make producing it in states farther south more challenging.
Maine has challenges of its own to navigate, including climate change and access to land, but it’s possible the state will keep producing more syrup for longer than other regions. That’s not noticeably impacting producers now, but could provide more room for growth in coming decades, they said.
“Long term, Maine is in a really good position, is I guess what it all boils down to,” said Alan Greene, president of the Maine Maple Producers Association and owner of Greene Maple Farm in Sebago.
Maine’s multimillion dollar maple industry is broadly made up of comparatively smaller operations along the southern coast bottling for retail markets, and much larger ones in northern Maine selling barrels to wholesale buyers in the U.S. and across the border in Quebec.
Changes in weather patterns have started to challenge them all, creating more ups and downs in temperature that can lead to bacterial growth in tap holes and less predictability in sap runs and sugar content.
Maine sugaring season, which starts when temperatures are above freezing during the day and below freezing at night, begins earlier and is typically shorter than it was decades ago.
Like other North American forest species, sugar maples also face threats from extreme weather, pests and diseases.
But technologies like high vacuum tubing that pulls out sap while avoiding bacterial growth, and reverse osmosis systems that cut down boil time, are helping operations survive and even increase yields, according to Jason Lilley, a maple industry educator at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. What would have been a mediocre season using buckets can become a record-breaking one with a high vacuum system.
Maine’s annual syrup output varies, but within the last decade the state has consistently produced about double the 265,000 gallons it recorded in 2005. In 2025, Mainers collected 549,000 gallons.
The state’s production has had one of the highest average growth rates in the country in the last two decades, along with Wisconsin and Vermont, according to a recent University of Vermont report.
Numerous Maine producers said it seems everyone is adding more taps – though people also just tend to get hooked on making maple syrup, some noted.
Greene, of the maple producers association, has ramped up his own taps from 500 to 1,500. He said he’s seeing lots of growth among existing sugarhouses.
Arnold Farms, a large organic producer with 2,000 acres in Somerset County, has grown from 18,000 taps in 2000 to more than 80,000 in 2021.
The Williamses, in Clifton, could tap even more, but plan to stop soon because of their own time and availability.
Elaine Williams does think about climate change but isn’t sure how it will affect their farm. If domestic production does shift north one day, she thinks the state would be ready.
“I assume everybody in Maine that does make maple would seize the day, because that’s the kind of people we are here,” she said, citing the state’s entrepreneurial spirit.
Some scientists have said it’s possible northern areas like the tip of Somerset County could become one of the last strongholds of syrup production in the next 50 to 100 years.
Somerset County is one the biggest maple-syrup producing counties in the United States, and home to Maine’s major operations.
The county also borders Quebec, the major maple area in Canada, which is the world’s biggest syrup producer and has increased production sevenfold since 1975. The Quebec Maple Syrup Producers federation runs prices, sales and production there.
Maine companies’ fates are intertwined with the Canadian market, and Canada also supplies a significant amount of the syrup consumed in the U.S.
Quebec has dipped into its syrup reserves in response to a 19% increase in international demand last year, The Canadian Press reported this month, and has authorized millions of new taps as hundreds of new businesses start.
Greene saw a shortage of available syrup for wholesalers in the U.S. and Quebec this season, with New England product in high demand, though that hasn’t been reflected in wholesale prices yet.
“They’re screaming for syrup,” he said.
Quebec producers are also thinking their role in the market could grow as the U.S. warms, according to that report.
In Maine, the university is focusing on nearer term responses to climate challenges like extreme weather and infrastructure damage, adding classes in resilient sugarbush management.
The Canadian government also promotes forest management responses, such as thinning trees to decrease demand for water during drought and diversifying stands with other species; it suggests maple stands may move north in coming years.
Meanwhile, consumer demand has been growing globally for retail and wholesale syrup, which studies have attributed partly to interest in natural sweeteners. Maple also has a unique flavor and a novel story, according to Lilley.
Some maple regions have increased their marketing in places that don’t produce syrup, and producers now sell all over the world, he said.
The Quebec producers association promotes “Maple Ambassadors” and runs social media pages dedicated to different countries, posting recipe videos and touting health benefits.
“Too many Australians are unknowingly consuming artificial flavours and preservatives by opting for ‘maple-flavoured’ syrup,” the association recently posted on its Australia Facebook account. “Check for ‘100% pure Canadian maple syrup’ to make sure you’re not missing out on all the incredible benefits it has to offer.”
The federation has also paid to push videos of cooking influencers promoting maple recipes that go viral, according to a public relations agency it hired.
“This natural sweetener took my drink to the next level,” one of those influencers, ‘Cooking Bomb,’ wrote in the description of a video for maple syrup ice cubes, holding a bottle of syrup in front of the camera.
Demand seems to be strong close to home, too, according to Lilley. The day after annual Maine Maple Sunday weekend, when sugarhouses are open to the public, he had heard from at least 10 that attendance was strong, if not recordbreaking, despite snowfall.
He can’t recall any conversations with anyone here who can’t find somewhere to sell their product.
Access to land is one of the major factors Mainers face if the industry is going to grow, he said. In southern coastal Maine, producers have no shortage of nearby markets but a limited number of tappable trees. In northern counties, most producers depend on those lease arrangements from timber companies.
In Somerset County, access and infrastructure in rural sugarbushes off the Golden Road can also be a challenge, along with electricity and transportation costs amid rising diesel prices.
Tariffs on equipment and supplies have also created some new costs for producers here.
But Maine does have a “reservoir” of untapped trees, Lilley noted, which could become more valuable in the future and marks room for growth in places where the industry is predicted to stay more stable.
There’s “a lot to build on” in the state, said Lilley, who sees both excitement about its potential and nerves about its challenges.
