Maple syrup producers in Quebec are at odds over the province’s quota system. Those who support the current system were protesting in the provincial capital on Tuesday. Those who’d like to see the system abolished were protesting today.
Last week, a 69-page report on the industry, recommended dropping the quota system and doing away with the monopoly that the federation of maple syrup producers of Quebec has on supply.
Commissioned by the provincial agriculture department last year, the report noted Quebec’s market share has dropped 10 per cent.
Norman Urbain owns a maple tree farm in the Laurentians. He was at the protest Monday. He questions the province’s assessment of market share.
He said maple syrup producers have only lost two or three percent of the market in the last 15 years. He says that they’ve increased production, exports and value in spite of increasing competition. According to him there are 45 million taps in the province with the potential to tap 100 million trees.
Meanwhile, in just across the border in the United States he says, there are 300 million trees currently untapped.
In an interview with CBC News, Urbain said, “It’s a very big potential, but if everybody starts tapping at the same time, what happens to the prices?”
Other producers, or those who want to expand into the industry, find the quotas holding them back. Jack Dempsey is the owner of a sugar bush southwest of Quebec City, He explained the opposing view: “The quota system only works if everyone is involved and everybody’s affected,” he told CBC News, explaining that while Quebec has a quota system, the other Maritime provinces, Ontario and U.S. producers do not.
We’ll look into the developments next week, as all the producers are preparing for the next season which, depending on the weather, gets undeway in March.
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