Local Maple Syrup Producers Host Summer Tour

The McCamus family hosted participants at the Ontario Maple Syrup producders summer tour at their production facility o Stewart Line. Other local hosts included Craig and Merissa Johnston of Bailieboro, and Bob and Jill Staples of Cavan. The following day the organization recognized Bob Staples with the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award

This year the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association (OMSPA) celebrated 50 years in business at their Annual General Meeting held at Trent University on the weekend of July 15th.   During the three-day event, producers took time to visit some local “sugar shacks” to see how it’s done around here.

After arriving at the university, participants heard about current issues affecting their production and marketing efforts, including invasive species threatening the sites and trends in sustainable tapping. After more workshops on production and marketing Friday morning, visitors from across the province loaded onto three buses to visit local producers the McCamus, Staples and Johnson families at their home farms.

The McCamus family has been harvesting the sweet sap on the home farm every year since 1915, and Brad is now the third generation to continue this tradition. He relies on the traditional heat source, using wood-fired evaporator to reduce the sap collected from 2900 trees currently in production. Their production process is not entirely traditional, as they use modern, reverse osmosis equipment, and use the smallest, least invasive taps and food-grade pipelines to collect the sap. Their product is sold at the farm and through an extensive referral system developed over the years through enthusiastic family and friends who appreciate the quality of their products, which has also received top prizes at several recent Royal Winter Fair competitions.

Another stop on the tour was at Johnston’s maple sugar bush just south of Bailieboro. Since he was a teen, Craig Johnston has been harvesting sap on their 300 acre family farm. What began as a hobby became a more serious endeavour in 1997 with the construction of a sugar shack where he and his wife Merissa produce syrup from 1000 taps on their farm. This extends their farm gate offerings of seasonal fruit, vegetables and plants. They are best known by locals as the go-to source for sweet corn throughout the season. The couple has plans to expand their syrup production to up to 1600 taps to supplement their market garden and cash crop business.

Emily Staples greets visitors at the Staples Sugar Shack during the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers’ summer tour

The final stop on the tour was the production site of Jill and Bob Staples on Highway 7A in Cavan, where visitors were greeting by their charming granddaughter Emily.   Production at the Staples’ location is always a family affair, where maple syrup production has been a family tradition for more than seven generations.   Their expertise has been recognized by their experts judges as well as their peers and they have earned four World Champion titles for their syrup at the Royal Winter Fair.

Bob’s dedication and attention to detail has earned him further recognition from his peers, as this year he was the recipient of the organization’s Lifetime Achievement award. Knowing that her husband is not a man to enjoy the spotlight, Jill had worked hard to prevent Bob from discovering the news until the award was presented Saturday evening, which was particularly challenging given the news was published in the widely distributed Summer Tour brochure. The award acknowledged Bob’s commitment to the industry, his leadership in production and his efforts to mentor the next generation of producers.

Conference attendees were hosted by David and Carolyn Brackenridge of Squirrel Creek Farm for lunch the following day, completing their tour of local producers and seeing the syrup production and repair depot operated by son Steven who supplies many of the guests with their equipment needs.

The Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association was formed in 1966 to represent maple syrup producers across the province to promote quality production standards, the best available management practices and marketing support. With 400 members and 11 local chapters, they promote and protect the maple industry and provide networking and educational opportunities such as this annual summer tour for its members.

Congratulations to all of our local maple syrup producers for showing your peers how it’s done around here, and a big round of applause to Bob Staples for this significant achievement in the maple syrup industry! KG