A maple syrup producer inspects a quart of amber-colored maple syrup boiled down from sap collected from sugar maples on his property near Big Bay some years ago. (Journal file photo)

MARQUETTE — To celebrate Michigan’s oldest agricultural activity, members of the Michigan Maple Syrup Association invite Michiganders to experience this unique process during the Annual Michigan Maple Syrup Weekend coming up this weekend.

April 11-12: Upper Peninsula

• Besteman Maple Products, Rudyard

• Michigan Maple Farms, Rudyard

• MSU Forestry Innovation Center, Escanaba

• Postma Brothers Maple Syrup, Rudyard

• Twisted Tap Sugar Shack, Pickford

Two of these weekends have already taken place downstate in March.

The respective farms offer a variety of family-friendly activities that provide a chance for people to get a firsthand look at how maple sap is collected, boiled down and turned into sweet maple syrup and other maple treats. Many of the farms offer tours of their operation, including tree tapping demonstrations, samples of their products, recipes for the use of maple syrup and local maple syrup products available to purchase. Attendees are reminded to wear boots as mud and snow may still be abundant this time of the year.

Later in the season, two well-established festivals are also planned including the Vermontville Maple Syrup Festival (April 24-26) and Shepherd Maple Syrup Festival (April 26-26).

Michigan ranked #5 behind Vermont, New York, Wisconsin and Massachusetts. Nationwide in 2025, the United States saw 5.77 million gallons produced (down two percent from the previous season). The number of taps across the country totaled 16.8 million in 2025 (down 1 percent from 2024). The yield per tap was .342 gallons, unchanged from 2024 to 2025.

Despite widespread ice damage to trees and tap systems throughout northern Michigan in March 2025, maple syrup production across the state was up over 2024 according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The total number of acres in production was down 1,500 (11,300 acres in 2024 vs 9,800 acres in 2025) as was the yield per tap (.308 in 2024 vs .298 in 2025), but there were 30,000 more taps statewide yielding 3,000 more gallons at the end of the season. The value of the industry is reported around $9 million. The 2024 Michigan harvest season was shortened by warmer temperatures, with overall production at 200,000 gallons (down from 205,000 gallons in 2023).

Over the past 15 years, Michigan has produced about 2 million gallons of syrup in what is regarded as the state’s oldest agricultural activity dating back to early Native Americans. Maple sugaring contributes to the overall $104.7 billion agricultural and $24 billion tourism industries here in Pure Michigan, according to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Michigan Economic Development Corporation, respectively.

Due to its high sugar content of approximately two percent, sugar maple is the preferred tree for tapping, although black maple, red maple, silver maple and ash leafed maple — each with a sugar content of about one percent — can also be tapped to produce syrup. Sugar maple is Michigan’s most common tree species and the northern hardwood forests in which they grow in abundance covers about five million acres. And while some Canadian provinces and New England state area are often recognized as leaders in the maple sugaring industry, Michigan itself has more than three times the number of sugar maples than Quebec or Vermont, meaning the potential for growth is unlimited. Currently, Michigan utilizes less than one percent of its potential maple resources.