Some University of Vermont students kicked off this year's sugaring season by tapping on-campus trees for sap, plus touring the oldest maple research center in the world. That's thanks to the UVM Maple Club and UVM Ag Club.

Both clubs are affiliated with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and both are nearing their first full academic year. To get more students involved, the clubs have been holding joint events — like the tour at Proctor Maple Research Center on March 1. 

Nearly two dozen participants showed up in Underhill on a cold, sunny Sunday to walk through snowy sugarbush on the slope of Mount Mansfield. 

"We're just trying to connect more the students with the agriculture in Vermont, the farms," said UVM Ag Club officer and sophomore Agustina Montedonico.

"Seeing [maple] more as agriculture I think is really interesting, I've kind of always seen it as a separate thing," said sophomore and fellow Ag Club officer Kellianne Walsh.

Young people stand in front of a blackboard with chalk drawings of a property with sugaring operations.
About 20 UVM students got the chance to tour Proctor Maple Research Center on March 1. Photo by Elodie Reed.

During the tour, students listened to a presentation by Director of Scientific Research Tim Rademacher. He spoke about maple tree biology and sugarbush ecology; the global industry market; production trends over time; the equipment and climate needed for making syrup; the center's collaborations with UVM Extension on testing syrup quality for producers; the fact that all the maple syrup in UVM dining halls comes from Proctor.

And should they want to learn more, Rademacher told students about his fall course, "Maple Sugaring In A Changing Environment."

"We have a little bit of sessions on campus to prepare things, but then you actually make some syrup out here, you run some lateral lines, you tap some trees, you learn the entire process, from the ecosystem and the health, all the way to the final product and the quality side of things," he said. "The class is supposed to prepare those that wanted to come back in the spring and actually work with us on specific research projects out here."

A powerpoint slide with a graph with upward trending lines and the title "we produce more and more syrup" while a person in yellow snowpant overalls is in the foreground speaking.
Proctor Maple Research Center Director of Scientific Research Tim Rademacher gave the UVM Maple Club and UVM Ag Club an overview of the maple industry. Photo by Elodie Reed.

 

At least one of the attending students was potentially interested in the class. More appreciated the chance to check out the research center operations in person, and to connect with each other. 

"It's a really cool opportunity to meet people who are also interested in what I'm interested in," said Max Cohen, a freshman Sustainability, Ecology, and Policy major. "I have a lot of background and hopes for the future in farming, and so it's nice to kind of bring that together, even if it's not what I'm studying."

Though Cohen noted that after attending Ag Club and Maple Club events, he decided to add an Agroecology minor, "to really get that experience."

A person in a red coat and hat leans over a large metal container, an evaporator.
The last stop of the tour was the evaporator. Photo by Elodie Reed.

There will be more opportunities for hands-on experience in the coming weeks. The day before the Proctor tour, Maple Club finished tapped 24 trees on UVM campus. And now, according to club officer Walt Regan-Loomis, they're going to need help with all that sap, which they'll be boiling in Aiken Center. (One perk of being involved is, you get the syrup after!)

"We're going to need people collecting almost daily," Regan-Loomis said. "And then, once we start boiling, we're gonna have to do some concentrating, because we're gonna have a lot."

The UVM Maple Club will also make an appearance on Across The Fence, as part of an upcoming week of maple-inspired set of programming. The full schedule is below. 

Monday, March 16: A Preview of 2026 Maple Open House Weekend with Allison Hope, Executive Director of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers' Association

Tuesday, March 17: What’s Maple Taste Like, Really? with Roy Desrochers and Mark Isselhardt, UVM Extension 

Wednesday, March 18: Maple Research: Wildlife Interaction with Tim Rademacher, UVM Proctor Maple Research Center and Naja Banerjee, UVM Field Naturalist

Monday, March 23: UVM Maple Club with students Emma Griffith and Walt Regan-Loomis