By Tom Hammett

For several years, Professor Tom Hammett and his students have conducted research and outreach activities on non-timber forest products. They have worked with a long list of products, including dietary supplements, fibers, medicinal plants, and specialty wood products. The SBIO department has received a USDA grant to study and expand markets and production of tree sap products, including maple syrup, a popular non-timber forest product with deep Virginia roots. Hammett’s new project, “Expanding livelihood options for Virginia land owners through tree syrup production,” will examine sap production from maple and other tree species, such as sycamore, birch, and black walnut, and develop new value-added products. The project seeks to engage current producers to increase sap and syrup production through education and outreach. It will develop new products and markets to increase competitiveness through networking, promoting new-value added products, and contacts with the public through demonstrations and festivals. The project team will mentor new producers, enabling them to enter the sector, through workshops, contacts through landowner organizations, and training, mentoring, and extension practices. It will also raise awareness of tree syrup uses and products to increase market size through public outreach programs, including maple syrup demonstrations, maple outreach activities, and tours of sugarbush and syrup-making operations.

Lastly, the project will engage landowners, farmers, and other stakeholders to form a maple syrup network to share market information, gain competitiveness through new and updated practices, and upgrade equipment to increase production efficiencies. Other efforts include developing and distributing extension publication and outreach resources to raise awareness about the production and health benefits of maple syrup products, helping new producers start operations, and assisting existing producers to improve production and marketing efficiencies.

Forest landowners are beginning to manage maple stands for increased sap production. The project will work with wood products producers to develop markets for the wood harvested from thinning their stands. For the past three years, Hammett has supervised groups of students doing research on biofuels and improving production efficiencies for the maple syrup sector. The goal is to expand that effort statewide and engage other stakeholders in seeking new income sources for landowners and entrepreneurs in the region.

In August, Hammett helped conduct a workshop in Monterey, Virginia, located in Highland County, the site for much of his team’s tree sap research and outreach work. This workshop focused on new and current producers and will be a model for other trainings to be conducted under this new program. The first training is the Southwest Virginia Maple Syrup School (aka The Maple Academy) on Nov. 1, 2018, in St. Paul, Virginia. Hammett is on the organizing committee, gave a talk on marketing, and conducted two concurrent sessions on value-added products and creative marketing. This training is a collaboration between a new SBIO program, the Wise County Extension Office, and the Master Naturalist Program in Southwest Virginia.