Northeastern farmers watch the decline of the sugar maple

Warming temperatures have made the sugar maple of upstate New York, New England and Canada an endangered species over the past few decades. More extreme weather has made the average season both earlier and several days shorter, and the $65 million a year industry’s demise doesn’t seem far off with 3-10 degree F warmer temperatures projected for the sugar region over the next century.

Weather has already had devastating effects for sugar shacks in the last decade alone. Sugar maples haven’t been getting the complete cold recharge they need – weeks of below-freezing temperatures – to convert starch into sucrose, so sap run ends with temperature swings by early April or before. Full story: The Daily Climate