Will climate change affect the quality of maple syrup?

Climate change poses challenges to forests and agricultural systems, including the maple syrup sector, affecting not only the quantities produced, but also the quality of the product.The quality of maple syrup is influenced by factors related to the environment, tree biology, microorganisms, sap composition, and anthropological factors, including harvest methods.This study attempts to project the effect of climate change in three different climate scenarios on the quality of maple syrup by modeling a transition point in dormancy release, which is associated with the composition of maple water/sap and syrup quality.Sap flow season was predicted by assuming the flow parameters of two harvest methods, gravity and vacuum collection.For some parameters, the difference between the collection methods was similar or larger in size to the projected impact of climate change, demonstrating the importance of technology.Furthermore, projections indicated that climate change could increase the opportunity to collect maple water, which is associated with high-quality syrup, by altering the timing of dormancy release and bud break.However, the effects vary between the harvest methods, with a greater influence on gravity collection.Consequently, although maple syrup production may decrease due to climate change, the biological response of maple trees could help mitigate this loss by reducing the likelihood of producing atypical and nonconforming products.Therefore, adapted collection practices could help maple syrup producers reduce the impact of climate change on their production.