Maple syrup season came weeks early in the Midwest. Producers are doing their best to adapt

By MELINA WALLING
Associated Press

DEERBROOK, Wis. (AP) — This year’s warmer winter temperatures have allowed some maple syrup producers across the U.S. to begin tapping their trees as much as two months early. In Wisconsin, the fourth-largest maple syrup producing state, many farmers started production in January and February, earlier than they can ever remember doing it. As climate change leads to warmer temperatures, these unpredictable winters may become more and more common in parts of Wisconsin. But many producers are committed to the traditions that strengthen their bonds with their “sugarbushes,” making this practice more resilient than others that are threatened by the slow melting of the North American winter.