RANDOLPH, Vt. Producers and state officials are checking syrup hydrometers and finding they’re off. At the state laboratory in Randolph, Vt., weights and measures officials for the Vermont agriculture department so far this year tossed out 6.6 percent of the 11,4126 hydrometers checked. A total of 749 hydrometers were rejected for sale. “The failure rate has doubled since 2019,” said Marc Paquette, chief metrologist for the Vermont agriculture agency, who oversees the lab testing. Vermont is the only state in the nation that offers official testing of hydrometers, and all of the big equipment manufacturers send huge batches of hydrometers to be tested there before they are sold back to sugarmakers. Before the year is over, Paquette and his team in the official Hydrometer Volumetric Room at the state office campus in Randolph are expected to test and verify upwards of 15,000 hydrometers, a record. Hydrometer checking was also a highlight at the Indiana Maple Syrup Association
SWANTON, Vt. The installation of a new $1 million state-of-the-art tubing extruder will be the first order of business following the H2O Innovation buyout of Leader Evaporator Co., a deal that closed on Thursday night during a ceremony at the Leader plant in Swanton. Paperwork was signed and champagne was flowing, as H2O became the new owners of the Leader Evaporator Co., which was founded in 1888 and reincorporated by a handful of prominent sugarmaking families as exclusive stockholders in 1964. Meanwhile, H2O Innovation is a publicly traded company from Quebec City, Que. with a $250 million market capitalization with ambitions to significantly grow the maple side of its water purification business. Rock Gaulin will run the operation in the U.S., officials said. Heading up the sales force in Swanton for the new H2O Innovation/Leader hybrid will be Kyle Lothian.