GREETINGS FROM YOUR NEW PRESIDENT

I had the honor of being elected your new President by the MMSA Board at the 2005 Winter Meeting. As a board member for the past two years I have strived to promote Michigan Maple through the internet and media to increase the demand for Michigan Made Maple Products. This will continue to be my goal as President of looking for new ways to support my fellow producers and promote Michigan Maple Products.

On January 22, 2005 the MMSA Annual Meeting was held at the Doherty Hotel in Clare. We had good attendance considering the snowy weather. Our dealer booths were full of innovative and practical equipment to start the new sugaring season off right. Jean Maday conducted the business meeting and informed the membership that she would not be re-running for her current position as President as well as Craig Arnold and Steve Youdes also announced they would not be re-running for Board positions. I would like to thank the three of them for all their years of dedication and hard work for the association.

Three new board members were elected. They are as follows: Mark Battel, Terry Coleman and Arnold Hammel. I want to thank the three of them for taking on this responsibility.

Tim Boonstra presented Floyd Moore with the award of Lifetime Honorary Member.

The main educational session (Tourist Oriented Directional Sign Program) was canceled due to the presenters not being able to make it on account of the weather. Russell Kidd of MSU Extension filled in the gap with a very informative session on Fertilizing Your Sugarbush.

Steve Youdes oversaw the maple syrup, cream and candy contest. We were glad see the increase in the amount of participation from members in the contest this year. Beautiful handmade awards by Steve Youdes were presented to all of the winners.

The Doherty prepared us a very good lunch featuring baked chicken prepared with Maple Syrup donated from several of the Board Members. Mary Douglass did a presentation on Property Tax Assessment of sugaring operations and changing the grading of syrup to a more standardized consumer friendly format. Both topics were discussed in length and you will be hearing more about them in the future. Bob Strong and myself conducted the beginners session. Dale Forrester and Craig Arnold taught the sap & syrup filtering session and Rick Fogle & Mike Ross taught the understanding vacuum pump technology session. I had the opportunity to sit in on the Making Maple Cream & Candy session given by Terry DeLoughary and Ron Thomas and it was very well received with lots of informative ideas as well participants were able to sample the items made. Mike Ross did a demonstration of making maple cream with a new type of cream machine that can produce a lot of cream quickly.

Due to the interest from the cream session, Terry DeLoughary has offered to feature a new column in the newsletters answering questions on anything Maple titled: TECHNICAL SUPPORT FOR MAPLE.

As I write this letter the weather looks to be in the sugarmakers favor and the hope of producing a bountiful crop of light syrup is anticipated.

Tom Cook, President