There is a much longer wait from planting to harvest but some Ontario farmers have started planting trees with an eye to future harvests.
Todd Leuty with the ministry of agriculture says there is some interest and some farmers have taken the step.
"Planting trees on farms that are not typical of a wood lot situation, commercial orchards, nut production, also maple syrup production through plantations," he says. "On the landscape side they have developed columnar sugar maples for landscape purposes but we had the idea they might be useful also in a high density plantation."
Leuty says the most interest in nut production is for chestnuts and hazelnuts if the soil and climate zone is right.
He says there have been 30 or 40 sugar maple orchards planted by farmers willing to wait about 25 years for their first harvest.