NEW YORK STATE (WENY) -- As the United States and Canada continue to place tariffs on each other, a bottle of maple syrup could be the next item to take a price hike.  However, it would not be because of the cost of the syrup itself.  The potential price hikes would be caused by tariffs placed on the equipment used to make the maple syrup.

“Any tariff that’s put on any goods that’s going to be put on that maple syrup equipment, it's gonna increase that cost of maple syrup production, said Adam Wild, the Director of Cornell University's Uihlein Maple Research Forest in Lake Placid, NY.   "So that's one of my biggest concerns, actually, for maple producers is added tariffs on that equipment which is gonna drive up the cost of maple syrup production."

Wild said the price increase on the production equipment will ultimately be passed on to the consumers.  This has created concern that families could start looking for alternatives to maple syrup.

"The concern is that if prices go up too much in the grocery stores, consumers will start to seek out alternative sweeteners and kind of go away from maple syrup and if they go away they're probably less likely to come back even if prices were to go down," Wild said.

Maple syrup is a big industry in New York State, generating tens of millions of dollars annually.

Wild said if the price of maple syrup becomes too high, consumers should consider buying directly from the syrup producers.  Along with getting a better price, he says you will also get higher quality syrup than you would get from the grocery store.