Vol. I, No. 6: 1. 1. Work: A Livable Wage? The Cost of Production + Income from Sugaring

Working Together
Work
Sugaring Special: A Maple Page
The Cost of Production & Income from Sugaring

In keeping with our on-going series on A Livable Wage, this month, we decided to take a little side-road into the world of Vermont's maple sugar producers.

It should come as no surprise, then, that, like many farm operations, sugaring, too, is not among the more lucrative businesses. ...

While there are wide fluctuations in production costs & revenues from year to year -- depending on such things as the length of the season, the variable sugar content of the sap, etc. -- it is possible to lay out some averages for the cost of maple syrup production, as well as the resulting income derived from the average sugaring operation in Vermont. Taking stats from the North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual out of Ohio State {which has become a 'bible' of sorts for producers}, as well as data from Vermont's Dept. of Ag. and the Maple Promotion Board, we looked at the average sugaring operation in Vermont.

There were an estimated 2000 maple syrup producers in Vermont last year who, together, produced some 460,000 gallons of maple syrup and related products. That represented an estimated value of about $13.34 million. That may sound like a lot of money in the aggregate, and it is. In fact, it represents a significant contribution to the State's economy. And that figure doesn't begin to account for the ancillary values and revenues associated with maple syrup production and sales, which probably bolster sales for many of the other 'made in Vermont' products, as well as sustain the image of purity associated with farm products & produce from the State.

For all that, however, it remains an open question as to how much of what has become a profitable trading in the Vermont image actually finds its way into the hands of the farmers who are primarily responsible for that image.

The following table, then, shows some of the average costs of producing maple syrup, as well as the average profits from operating a sugaring operation. Read it and think

The Cost of Maple Syrup Production in Vermont & The Average Income and Revenues from Sugaring
Estimated number of producers		2000
Total syrup production {in gallons}		460,000
Total sap handled & processed @ 40 gal. of sap / gal. of syrup		18,400,000
Average syrup production per producer in gallons		230
Estimated total value of maple syrup production {last year}		$13,340,000
Derived sale price per gallon		$29.00
Average total revenue per producer		$6,670
Avg. cost of production / gal. of syrup for wood-fired operation[1]	$20.74	$4770.20
Avg. cost of production / gal. of syrup for oil-fired operation[1]	$23.07	$5306.10
Avg. net income for wood-fired operation		$1899.80
Avg. net income for for oil-fired operation		$1363.90
Avg. profit / gal. of syrup for wood-fired operation		$8.26
Avg. profit / gal. of syrup for oil-fired operation		$5.93
Estimated avg. labor time per gallon of syrup[2]		58 min.
Avg. hourly wage-profit / gal. of syrup for wood-fired operation		$8.54
Avg. hourly wage-profit / gal. of syrup for oil-fired operation		$6.13
NOTES: [1] Avg. cost or production figures were determined by taking figures from the Huyler and Williams study of 1994 and figuring an avg. annual inflation rate of 2.5% [2] Avg. labor time was extrapolated from the North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual, Figure 11.3. Worksheet for Determining Maple Syrup Production Costs and Profitability. Those figures were for a 1000 tap operation producing 300 gallons of syrup. In reality, therefore, given last year's Vermont numbers of 230 gallons/producer on avg., the actual labor-time per gallon is probably higher than the figure given here.
SOURCES: Vermont Maple Promotion Board; Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Assoc.; North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual, Ohio St. Univ.; Huyler, Neil K. and Williams, Sumner. 1994. Maple syrup production costs 1994 update. Maple Syrup Digest 6A(3): 10-12.

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