Recognizing that low consumption of maple products among new jerseys 9.3 million consumers is largely owing to lack of maple industry knowledge this project will increase NJ demand for maple…

Recognizing that low consumption of maple products among new jerseys 9.3 million consumers is largely owing to lack of maple industry knowledge this project will increase NJ demand for maple products by improving consumer knowledge and understanding of the maple industry. Currently NJ ranks third in the nation for perfarm income from agritourism at the same time the ability of agritourism to drive consumption of local naturally derived foods is well documented. Therefore this project entails educating NJ consumers about the maple industry and crossmarketing vermont maple products during tours of NJ land devoted to maplesugaring and farming. The project also entails exploiting growing NJ consumer demand for locally produced foods by developing and marketing maple syrup and valueadded maple products blending stockton university and vermont maple syrups. Other consumer promotion activities under this project include promoting NJ retail sales of vermont maplesap products developing marketing materials to promote directtoconsumer sales of vermont maple syrup launching an annual maple syrup festival in the spirit of other popular agricultural festivals in the state and addressing consumer concerns through research on the ecological impact of SAP harvesting on tree health. This project intends to benefit the domestic maple industry at large as newly developed preferences for maple products are expected to accompany NJ consumers into markets and grocery stores IT also intends to benefit vermont maple syrup producers through direct collaboration as well as NJ consumers who are increasingly demanding lessprocessed sweeteners and naturally derived food products.