Maple producers look back on stressful season that ended sweetly

The spring season has been generally tough but ultimately rewarding for maple syrup producers in the Eastern Townships. 

In the end, the quality of syrup was high, but it wasn't clear that things would work out until the very end of the season.

"We were nervous, but we got lucky the week of Easter," said Joël Larrivée, president of the Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec en Estrie.

"We had four days of rain. The maples flowed for six days in a row without stopping, day and night. That saved the season."

Larrivée's 25,000 maples produced 240 barrels of syrup.

Maple stands on north-facing slopes had a more difficult season due to lack of sunshine. And in regions further to the north, Larrivée said, late-season snow meant maple trees didn't properly thaw.

"This year, it started to get stressful because it was cold day and night," said Jonathan L'Heureux, a syrup producer in Stoke, outside of Sherbrooke. 

"The flows were always smaller in our case. We began to wonder if the buds were going to come out too quickly."

Decent season, but not without stress

The overall assessment of maple syrup producers is that the season was good, but not without stress.

"It's stressful, but it's part of the beauty of the job too," said David Picard, who owns a maple grove in Ham-Nord in the Eastern Townships. "There's a little adrenaline and it makes us push ourselves further. It's a beautiful job that I love."

According to Larrivée, the Eastern Townships should represent 20 per cent of the total Quebec production this year, and the quality of the syrup should be excellent.

"The fact that the temperatures were very cold this year saved the syrup harvest," Picard said. "The sap was better and the maple syrup was better and the flavours came out in mid-April so it was good."

There are 900 maple syrup producers in the Eastern Townships — 10 per cent of the total in Quebec.