For nearly five decades, the Shattuck family has been producing maple syrup on their farm in Belchertown, Massachusetts, where they also raise beef cattle. Wil and Judi Shattuck started small with used equipment and grew their sugaring operation to over 1,000 buckets hung on the trees in late winter, the sap harvested by hand and boiled down to sweet maple syrup in a quaint sugar shack.

Today, the Shattuck’s Sugarhouse operation is a modern one. Judi explained that harvesting sap from the trees now involves a vacuum tubing system that delivers the sap right to the sugar shack and into a reverse osmosis (RO) system.

Reverse osmosis is a process used in water purification that has been adapted to maple syrup production. Instead of keeping the purified water, however, maple producers keep the by-product – concentrated sugar, minerals, and other solids – as concentrated maple sap that they finish boiling into maple syrup using an evaporator. The RO process is more efficient because less boiling is required.

“Our dream was to expand enough for our next generation of family to have the love that we have for preserving the land and producing maple syrup,” said Judy. “I just felt it was time that we moved on to the next decade and make it more efficient and have it for our children and grandchildren.”

After constructing a larger sugarhouse in 2020, the Shattucks, whose son Nate is now involved in the business, wanted to ensure they were operating at peak energy efficiency. So, they contacted the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for help.

“I went to high school with Nate,” said Michelle Cozine, Soil Conservationist in the NRCS field office in Hadley, Mass. “We were talking one day, and I let him know that NRCS may be able to assist with their maple sugar operation.”

Michelle knew that the Shattucks had a new building, constructed with the help of grants from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources. “Judi came into the service center and applied for an agricultural energy management plan – also known as an Ag EMP – which identified components of their sugaring operation that would benefit from energy improvements.”

NRCS funded the development of the Ag EMP, and later provided funding for a reverse osmosis system and a steam hood that increases the efficiency of the wood-fired evaporator through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.

“When somebody walks through the door, we do everything we can to help them out, to save money, to save wood, to save time. I think it's important,” said Michelle, adding that the upgrades have reduced the Shattuck’s wood usage by 20 percent, lowering greenhouse gas emissions and helping maintain forest land to capture more carbon.

“NRCS provided us the opportunity to say, ‘hey we can do this,’” said Judi. “The one thing about this building is it's peaceful. It was made with a lot of love and hard work and a lot of sweat equity. And we're very pleased that this NRCS funding gives the opportunity to finish it with equipment that would be more efficient.”