There are approximately 59 million maple trees within Kentucky’s extremely dense forest.   The availability of these trees are beginning to show signs of a new enterprise across the state to help drive economic growth for farmers, foresters and landowners.  Maple syrup production has a long history, but in 2016, the Harlan and Letcher County Agriculture and Natural Resources agents worked with maple syrup producers to develop a Kentucky Maple Syrup School. The following year, that same group of individuals came together to develop the Kentucky Maple Syrup Association.  Since that time, more, up-to-date information has been delivered to clientele that have an interest in maple syrup and maple syrup products.  This has brought about more maple syrup producers.  Due to efforts from the group and help from the University of Kentucky, Department of Forestry, February 2020 brought the first Kentucky Maple Day, where maple syrup producers opened their businesses for tours and sales.   Multiple producers had great success with the event.  With the continued growth, the group applied for and received a $500,000 USDA Acer grant, in fall of 2020, that will be used for research, education, and helping new maple producers get started.  Due to the pandemic, the Kentucky Maple Syrup School took a virtual look in 2020.  More than 85 producers, new and veteran, learned about growing their maple business, value-added cooking with maple, and More than Maple:  Walnut Syrup.   One maple producer stated he had already identified some walnut trees on his and a neighboring property and plans to add this to their syrup sales.  The school also yielded at least three individuals that are interested in producing maple syrup for the first time.