Quebec maple syrup producers divided over quota system
Some producers want to sell independently, others worry price will tank
Producers of one of of Quebec's most iconic symbols are divided about the way forward in their industry, as the province considers changes to the quota system for maple syrup.
Those for and against the system held duelling protests this week.
A 69-page report on the industry released last week recommends dropping the quota system and ending the monopoly that the federation of maple syrup producers of Quebec has on supply. It noted that Quebec's market share has dropped 10 per cent.
The report was commissioned last year by the provincial agriculture department and prepared by Quebec City-based consultant Florent Gagné.
'Big potential'
Hundreds of maple syrup producers who support the current system protested at the National Assembly on Tuesday.
Norman Urbain, who owns a maple tree farm in the Laurentians and attended the demonstration, disagrees with 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 and that they have increased production, exports and value despite increasing competition. He said there are 45 million taps in the province with the potential to tap 100 million trees.
Meanwhile, in the U.S. he says there are 300 million trees currently untapped.
"It's a very big potential, but if everybody starts tapping at the same time, what happens to the prices?"
A hindrance to expansion?
However, other producers say the system is holding people back. Those who want to see quotas dropped held their own demonstration at the National Assembly on Friday.
Jim Dempsey, who has a sugar bush in Inverness, roughly 80 kilometres southwest of Quebec City, said the quota system makes sense for well established producers and at maximum production.
But for those who want to add a maple production to a mixed-farm operation, it's hard to expand into the industry.
"The quota system only works if everyone is involved and everybody's affected," he noted, pointing out that while Quebec is under the quota system, Maritime, Ontario and U.S. producers are not.