The federal minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food spent a mild morning in late February rubbing shoulders with some of the sweetest people in Prince Edward County.

Lyle Vanclief was guest of honour at the annual first tapping, billed this year as the "first agricultural crop of the Millenium". The event was held at Stone’s Sugar camp, on County Road 5 just north of Picton.

"Canadian maple syrup is known around the world," Vanclief told the small crowd gathered near the Stones’ tidy sugar shack. The industry, he said, is "unique to eastern Canada and the eastern seaboard of the United States." More than 100 million litres of syrup is exported yearly, Vanclief added.

With a stretch of warm day and night temperatures, conditions in late February weren’t ideal for the sap, which needs below-freezing nights. But many of the producers who came out to the event say they were still able to start tapping sometime around mid-month.

The first tap is an important event because it’s the "marking of a new year" said Earl Dertinger, a resource manager and stewardship coordinator with the Ministry of Natural Resources in North Simcoe County.

Dertinger said he’s in constant contact with maple syrup producers through stewardship programs. His function, he said, is to "provide information through science and technology transfer" to producers and other private landowners. Dertinger went on to talk about the 1998 ice storm, pointing out that producers affected by the devastation switched to a more "conservative tapping guide" or in some cases, didn’t tap at all. Before the ice storm, he said, the approximately 2000 producers in Ontario made more than one million litres of syrup annually. The province has historically been the second, third or fourth largest producer in North America, depending on the year. It’s an industry worth an estimated $15-million annually.

Doug and Gloria Stone were the hosts for this year’s kick-off to the season. They belong to the Quinte Local of the Ontario Maple Syrup Producer’s Association, a group which includes more than 30 members. The local covers a large geographical area, from Bancroft in the north to Napanee in the east and as far west as Indian River near Peterborough.

The Stones have a total of 66 acres; woodland covers about 26 acres with the remaining land used for cash cropping of soybeans and grains. Until his retirement last year Doug worked at the nearby Esroc cement plant, running the farm as more of a hobby. But he says he couldn’t wait to retire so he could spend more time farming.

The business of maple syrup, "a substantial part" of the Stone’s income, has changed over the 16 years the family has been making it. "I used to run with buckets," he said, gesturing to the much more sophisticated pipeline system now in place. "Dad used to come with the tractor and he was close to 80 years old."

As his father aged and his son went off to college Doug says he was forced to start re-designing to make it a "one man operation." Now he works with about 70 taps and in the height of the season spends long days from morning until late night in the sugar shack. Even though he’s alone, Doug says the system is much easier to operate.

Ross Steed, a producer from Indian River, near Peterborough, talked about the more advanced system of tapping using reverse osmosis. "In our case," said Steed, "we remove about 75 per cent of the water before we start to boil. Once the concentrate feeds into the evaporator," Steed continued, "you better be ready to start taking the syrup off."

While the maple syrup season varies from year to year, producers agree it generally runs from mid-February to early April.