BRADFORD COUNTY, Pa. — Maple tapping was celebrated on Friday in Bradford County with a visit by state agriculture officials.
Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding kicked off the state's maple tapping season at Dewy Meadows Farm in Warren Center.
Members of the Pennsylvania Maple Producers Council and Pennsylvania Hardwoods Development Council were also on hand.
Dewy Meadows Maple, a Pennsylvania Century Farm, has been passed down through generations of the Andrew and Sally Dewing family, who have made maple syrup and sugar there for more than a century.
"We embark in the maple industry on making a fully organic product. We capture the sap after it's perked through the soil, come through the roots, and we take it out of the tree. We take a small portion, and then we turn it into syrup and other usable products," said owner Andy Dewing.
"Pennsylvania agriculture is a sweet business to be in," Sec. Redding said. "There's no better place to tell that story than on a family-run maple farm like Dewy Meadows.
Pennsylvania is one of the nation's largest producers of pure maple syrup, producing nearly 200,000 gallons per year worth $5.4 million.