The Rural Voice, 2000-03, Page 30account purchasing the bush. For
those who already own a bush,
there's money to be made at lower
levels. In his own case he realized he
had a good bush and figured he
might as well make use of it.
It you want to start small as a
hobby or sideline. the investment
need not be large. If you were to
follow O'Brien's start-up with an oil -
drum stove you'll be out the cost of
the conversion plus a stainless steel
pan — probably $200-$300 he
estimates. Make sure you use
stainless steel in the pan. While
producers once used sheet metal its
now known the solder used can result
in lead poisoning.
If you want to go a step up from
the do-it-yourself start-up, you can
buy a commercial stove with
stainless steel pan, large enough for a
operation with 50 to 200 taps for
about $3,500.
A commercial -sized operation
handling 1,200 to 3,000 taps will cost
from $6,000 to $13,000 for the stove
and evaporator pan. This doesn't
include the hoods that go over the
evaporator to remove the steam,
tanks required to store the sap before
it enters the evaporator or the cost of
a sugar shack. Though the sugar
shack seems like a Targe part of the
outlay, simple pole buildings can
provide inexpensive housing for the
operation, he says:
Before the sap gets to the
evaporator there's the expense
of the collection system. If
you're starting very small you can
use the old-fashioned system of
buckets but most people today want
the efficiency of a pipeline (though
O'Brien feels if you're selling to the
public you may want to keep some
buckets to let people see and taste the
sap and make an "experience" out of
a visit to the bush).
The cost of spiles, main pipeline
and feeder lines runs about $4 per tap
but that's a long term investment
because good quality pipeline is
guaranteed for 20 years (unless
squirrels intervene — but that's
another story).
You can use gravity -fed pipelines
but there are advantages to using a
vacuum pump system. Eastern
Ontario producer Ray Fortune, who
made a study of the economics of
maple syrup production for Cornell
University's annual maple syrup
conference in 1997, found he could
get as much sap from 1,000 taps after
he installed a pump as he had from
1,800 taps from a gravity -fed system.
The disadvantage, of course, is that
you require a source of power for the
pump.
Fortune's study, also delivered at
the Provincial Agroforestry
Conference in Woodstock in the fall
of 1998, suggested the cost of setting
up a maple syrup operation ranged
from $50 per tap for a small
operation of under 500 taps to $30
per tap for a large operation, but that
included the price of land and
estimated production at 50 taps per
acre yielding 1.25 litres of finished
syrup per tap. He estimated that
someone operating 250 taps would
earn minimum wage from the
operation; someone with 1,000 taps
would make $15 per hour and
someone with 10,000 taps earns $25-
$30 per hour. To make a full-time
living for your family, Fortune
estimated you would need 10,000
taps in your operation — again when
land costs are included.
While those projections seem
(Ivan & Gail)
CRANSTON FARM
MAPLE SYRUP
Cty. Rd. 1, 3 miles South of Lucknow
Over 60 Years Family Tradition
of
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Visitors Welcome
Seasonal Hours
Syrup available year-round
529-7360
PURE MAPLE
it SYRUP
For A Taste Of Spring
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'lr�ully' ill l farm
St. Marys
1999 Western Fair Maple Champions
Weekend Sugarbush Tours
4 March 11 to Apr. 9
Horse-drawn rides
Old time syrup making
Taffy on snow
Baby Iambs and bunnies
Music and special events
Farm store open daily 10 to 5
Groups welcome
519-284-2564
Ontario Maple Syrup
Producers Association
Come and Taste the Tradition
at the 36th Anniversary
of the
Elmira Maple Syrup
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Saturday, April 1st
From 7:00 a.m.
for more information
contact: 519-669-2605
Website: www.elmiramaplesyrup coni
28 THE RURAL VOICE