It would appear that spring has arrived early in Maine this year. That might be welcome news to some, but not to those in the maple syrup industry, who have been forced to end their production season early. Despite the weather, syrup producers will still open their doors for the annual Maine Maple Sunday this weekend.

Timothy Littlefield operates a small sugarshack from his home in Holden. Littlefield says his business, Lucerne Maple Products, has had a tough season. "An average for us is around 400 gallons of finished syrup a year. As of right now we've made 61 gallons. And that's not even going to pay the bills."

Littlefield sells some syrup via mail-order and some to bed and breakfasts. But most of his inventory is sold to locals who stop by his sugarhouse. He says this year's low production will force him to raise his prices.

"Last year I went up, the year before I kind of held the line, I said, 'Well, I'll bite the bullet.'" Littlefield says. "Right now, I'm getting $70 for a gallon of medium or light syrup. Year before last, it was $39, so it's almost doubled."

Littlefield says that in the syrup business, timing is everything. "We had a really early warm-up back in February and a lot of people tapped their trees then and they made some syrup but I wasn't ready to," he says. "I don't feel that I really lost that much, it's just that Mother Nature isn't cooperating at all."

"The people who were ready early and got that first, early run in February, seem to be doing better as far as total production goes," says Kathy Hopkins, an educator at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension office in Somerset County.

"The people who were waiting, sort of, for the March runs to start and missed out on that first run are having a little more trouble now, and people who are on vaccuum tend to be doing better than people just hanging buckets," Hopkins says. "But everybody now pretty much across the state is having a hard time because the weather conditions just aren't correct."

Hopkins says it's been too warm during the day and not cold enough at night. "You need it to be around 40 degrees during the day and maybe 20 degrees at night," she says. "You need that freeze and thaw action and the difference between the day and the evening to get a good sap flow."

Still, the low production won't prevent the annual Maine Maple Sunday from taking place. This weekend, sugarhouses around the state will open their doors to the public, selling and serving syrup and other maple products.

"I'm not full of gloom and doom. I'm still hoping -- you know I'm hoping we can get another week or two in," says maple syrup maker Timothy Littlefield of Holden.

Holden says even though supply is down, demand for his maple syrup continues to rise. And he says with a little help from the weather, there's still a chance that production could be boosted here in the late going.

"We've got some weather that looks potentially good, if it comes," he says. "We could produce some more syrup if we have the sap to do it. If Mother Nature lets the trees run, we can make 60, 80 gallons of syrup in one night."

For more information on Maine Maple Sunday, and a map of sugarshacks in your area, click here.