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Global Maple Syrup Crisis! Schumer Wants to Tap More
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 11, 2009
Modified Mar 11, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 11, 2009
Modified Mar 11, 2009
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The cost of maple syrup has skyrocketed due to increased demand and depleted supply. Last year, a warm April shortened the tapping season in Quebec to 3 days, instead of the normal 20; now the retail cost of syrup has soared to over $100 a gallon. Quebec, "the OPEC of maple syrup," produced 5.35 million gallons last year, more than 70 percent of the global supply. (By comparison, Vermont produced just 500,000 gallons, and New York produced a pitiful 322,000 gallons.) Quebec produces more because it taps over a third of its trees, and Senator Chuck Schumer would like to see New York State and the rest of the nation get a bigger share of the maple syrup riches. This week he co-sponsored a bill to help small American producers get access to trees on private land and to create centralized storage and bottling plants. Schumer tells the Times, "Listen to this, we have 289 million maple trees in New York, but we tap less than one-half of 1 percent of them. It's a large, untapped resource, shall we say." Something tells us the only reason Schumer sponsored this bill is so he could make with the goofy puns.
Tagged
chuck schumer
maple syrup
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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