This week's warm weather should get the Ontario maple syrup harvest rolling.
Ray Bonnenburg of the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association says about 95 per cent of the maple crop is taken in during March and April.
He says there's still some frost in the ground and snow cover, so he's predicting an average to above-average harvest this year.
Some producers south of highway 7 boiled some sap in February, which he says is not all that unusual.
Bonnenburg says the key will be the freeze/thaw cycle - below freezing temperatures at night, above during the daytime - to really get the sap running.
This is the first year for the new maple syrup grading, classification and labelling regulations.
The new labels will include both colour and taste descriptors.
However, Bonnenburg says you may still see some of the old labels out there.
Maple syrup producers have been given 2 years to use up any old labels they may have on-hand before the new ones are going to be fully enforced.
According to OMAFRA, there are about 27 hundred maple producers in the province, harvesting about two million litres of syrup a year.
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Bonnenburg says 95 per cent of that harvest runs from March to April, depending on the weather.
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While the season can stretch from mid-February to early April, Bonnenburg says the 2016 season has yet to really take off.
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Bonnenburg doesn't see any reason 2016 shouldn't be a good year for the provincial syrup crop.
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