Warmer weather a boost for local maple syrup production

PLYMOUTH, Wis. - The warmer temperatures not only feel nice for us, but also for maple syrup production on the farms, which is helping get an early start on production this year.

Keeping her family's maple syrup business alive is what keeps Barbara Drewry Zimmerman going.

"It's in my blood, it's in my DNA," said Zimmerman.

She's the sixth generation of the 175-year-old Drewry Farms Maple Syrup in Plymouth, and visiting her sugarbush farm on a warm day is what she keeps a very close eye on.

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Drewry Farms Maple Products

"It should be a good day because it froze last night," she added. "We try to watch the temperatures and everything and my nephew pretty much watches the forecast and says okay we're going to start tapping."

Barbara notes that this year, it's very early. She says the mixture of the warmer weather and the cold weather is what has helped this season have an early start.

"Normally we start tapping about now and by the end of February maybe the weather changes," she said.

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Let the sap flow

While the flow of production has shown promising results, she says it's still too soon to tell what the season will look like.

"The length of light the tree has. Daylight versus nighttime light also affects the production and right now, when you compare the amount to a month from now, it's a huge difference."

Temperatures and sunlight are making the family optimistic they'll stay afloat and keep production going.

And if you didn't know, Wisconsin is among the leading states to produce this maple syrup in the country, producing about 300,000 gallons of maple syrup annually.