The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded Stockton University‘s Maple Grant project a second grant of nearly $500,000 to be paid out over a three-year period to expand maple syrup production in the region.
Last year, Stockton received funding from the USDA to promote maple sugaring research and outreach. The second grant is earmarked for “production hubs” in South Jersey counties and Philadelphia. Each hub will receive equipment to collect sap and produce maple syrup, as well as consulting to set up its operation. In exchange, hub owners agree to tap trees on their property and receive syrup from local community members.
“The second grant is about getting the industry started. This requires two things:
People who are excited to produce syrup and a community that is excited to taste and buy the syrup. We need what Vermont has,” said Aaron Stoler, a Stockton University assistant professor of environmental science who is leading the grant team.
Last year, 90 red maple trees were tapped on the Stockton campus and in backyards throughout the region. The community connected with nature, spent time outside and made syrup.
“The first grant was about building engagement and excitement and developing a sugarbush on campus to show people a Vermont-style sugarbush in southern New Jersey,” Stoler said.
This year, a two-mile web of blue tubing weaves about 400 red maple trees into a network that feeds into a collection tank and quadruples the size of the sugarbush from last year. The trees translate into the potential to harvest 4,000 gallons of sap that can be boiled down into 60-80 gallons of syrup.
About a dozen students will be working at Stockton’s sugarbush this season, and production will be managed by the grant’s research assistant, Ryan Hegarty.
“It’s been a lot of hard work and long hours in the forest this fall to expand our sugarbush to 400 trees for this tapping season. I have enjoyed nearly every second of it because it is so peaceful and quiet working in the forest,” said Hegarty, who graduated with an environmental science degree this year.
