{"id":417074,"date":"2022-03-16T20:24:39","date_gmt":"2022-03-16T17:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/inside-the-fight-to-save-new-brunswicks-maple-syrup\/"},"modified":"2022-03-16T20:24:39","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T17:24:39","slug":"inside-the-fight-to-save-new-brunswicks-maple-syrup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/inside-the-fight-to-save-new-brunswicks-maple-syrup\/","title":{"rendered":"#Inside the fight to save New Brunswick&#8217;s maple syrup"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a26b29c5aadf\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a26b29c5aadf\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/inside-the-fight-to-save-new-brunswicks-maple-syrup\/#%E2%80%9CInside_the_fight_to_save_New_Brunswicks_maple_syrup%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Inside the fight to save New Brunswick&#8217;s maple syrup&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CInside_the_fight_to_save_New_Brunswicks_maple_syrup%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Inside the fight to save New Brunswick&#8217;s maple syrup&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n                                                                        Each winter, Nicolas Martin and his father, Marco, snowshoe to a publicly owned forest near the Restigouche River, about 300 km north of Fredericton, where the snowdrifts are as tall as they are. They stop at each mature sugar maple to drill holes\u2014some 30,000 in all\u2014into which they tap nozzles called spiles. These connect to tubes that flow sap to the boiling room when spring arrives, and the team lights their evaporator to boil the sap for maple syrup.<\/p>\n<p>In January, a group of maple syrup producers, including the Martins, marched through Saint-Quentin, the heart of New Brunswick syrup country, calling on their government to lease them more of the sugar bush. One syrup producer, Denis C\u00f4t\u00e9, told a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a>paper, \u201cThey\u2019re clear-cutting everything.\u201d In Quebec last summer, meanwhile, syrup makers created a video critical of loggers, and demanded that governments protect Crown land for that sweet nectar of spring.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>MORE:\u00a0The most Irish island in the world is in Canada<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Sawmills and pulp mills have long been pillars of New Brunswick\u2019s economy, but the province\u2019s northeast, where the Martins live, is increasingly known these days for maple syrup. As demand for syrup soars, syrup producers in New Brunswick and Quebec are demanding that governments reduce logging and protect more maple trees. \u201cWe want access to more public land so we can expand our industry,\u201d Marco says.<\/p>\n<p>The world has a sweet tooth for maple syrup: some 80 per cent of the world\u2019s syrup comes from Canada, mainly Quebec, and exports grew 21 per cent last year. Last fall, to meet global demand, Quebec released about half of its Global Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve, or 22.7 million kg. Syrup makers want to produce more but they say loggers threaten their livelihood. You need maple trees to make maple syrup but the wood of maple trees has many other uses: floors, furniture, pool cues, pellets for heating, shipping pallets, paper, mouldings in homes and even skateboards, guitars and pianos. Sawmills across Eastern Canada won\u2019t readily give up their supply of mature maples. This leaves governments in a sticky situation: do we cut maple trees down for wood or let them grow for syrup?<\/p>\n<p>Both groups are clamouring for more access to maple forests. Quebec has leased 40,000 hectares of public forests for maple syrup, accounting for about one-fifth of the province\u2019s production. Meanwhile, about 80 sawmills in Quebec consume about 1.2 million cubic metres of maple wood each year, and they want more. The price of maple planks rose 39 per cent between 2020 and 2021, as a booming U.S. housing market increased U.S. demand for Quebec maple.<\/p>\n<p>So far, Quebec has been able to meet demand for maple syrup with existing private forests and Crown forest leases. But the province\u2019s syrup makers say that it will need 168 million taps by 2080, about quadruple its current number. They want permission to lease about 200,000 hectares of public land over the next 60-odd years. However, Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Samray, chief executive of Quebec\u2019s forest industry lobby, says mills need those maple trees. \u201cWe are working to find solutions. We don\u2019t see why people have to choose between eating syrup on their pancakes or eating pancakes while sitting at a table made of maple. We think there is room for both.\u201d Michel Ferron runs the Scierie Carri\u00e8re, a sawmill in Lachute, north of Montreal, and one of about 80 mills in Quebec that buys maple logs. The mill, with 40 workers, wants to protect its wood supply; the mill ships maple to Japan and Indonesia to make components for Kawai pianos. \u201cWe know that everyone loves maple syrup, but setting aside more public land for maple syrup production is going to lower our volumes,\u201d Ferron says.<\/p>\n<p>In Quebec, producers have accused the province of cutting sugar bushes for fast cash; a healthy maple tree will produce $30 of syrup every year for a century. Serge Beaulieu, head of the producers\u2019 group, lives south of Montreal. \u201cBehind my sugar shack, the forest has been t<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ed for 200 years,\u201d he says. \u201cWe need to maintain space for maple syrup.\u201d But Beaulieu needs sawmills, too; he thins his sugar bush and sends the wood to mills. \u201cWe don\u2019t want the mills to go away,\u201d he says. \u201cWe need to find an equilibrium.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Christian Messier, a forest researcher at the Universit\u00e9 du Qu\u00e9bec en Outaouais who makes maple syrup for family and friends at his own sugar bush in Saint-\u00c9mile-de-Suffolk, Que., says that leasing more public forests to syrup producers could create another problem on top of a lumber shortage. Syrup makers cut other tree species to favour maples: \u201cWe end up with a monoculture of maple trees that will be bad for resilience and biodiversity,\u201d he says. Logging operations, on the other hand, let in sunlight, which helps other species such as oak, walnut and yellow birch to thrive.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RELATED:\u00a0Jet fuel is bad for the environment. Contrails are even worse.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Quebec government says it has heard the syrup makers\u2019 concerns and has set up a roundtable with syrup producers, mills and government to seek compromise. The province also notes in an email that it is bullish on maple as a source of wood; U.S. home builders want more maple from Quebec.<\/p>\n<p>New Brunswick, where the Martins tap their trees, is a relative newcomer to the syrup industry. Quebec and U.S. syrup producers suffered a poor syrup season in 2021, compared to the bounty crop harvested in New Brunswick. Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Laplante, who bought three sugar bush operations on Crown land in 2008 and has since doubled his production, sold all his 2021 syrup to buyers in Quebec (who resell most of it to the United States). \u201cNobody in New Brunswick has any syrup left on their shelves that they can\u2019t sell,\u201d says Laplante, who heads the New Brunswick Maple Syrup Association. New Brunswick syrup producers also want more trees, and they\u2019ve asked their government to roughly double the forest available for maple syrup, or about two per cent of the province\u2019s public forests. New Brunswick\u2019s natural resources department says it is evaluating their request against other land use possibilities.<\/p>\n<p>Maple sap runs best after a cold winter. As the climate changes, it might make sense to protect the sugar bush in northern New Brunswick, where syrup season arrives a month later than in southern Quebec\u2014particularly to help young syrup makers do their job. \u201cI like to be in nature,\u201d says Nicolas Martin. \u201cIt\u2019s calm and silent. People call it meditation.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><em>This article appears in print in the April 2022 issue of<\/em> Maclean\u2019s <em>magazine with the headline, \u201cSugar rush.\u201d Subscribe to the monthly print magazine <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/secure.macleans.ca\/loc\/MME\/head_subscribe\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"under-article-widget-nl\">\n<p class=\"under-article-widget-title\">Looking for more?<\/p>\n<p class=\"under-article-widget-description\">Get the best of <em>Maclean&#8217;s<\/em> sent straight to your inbox. 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They stop at each mature sugar maple to drill holes\u2014some 30,000 in all\u2014into&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":417075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/MAPLE-SYRUP-CANADA-KUITENBROUER-766x431.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[67848,67806,10595,126876,70317],"class_list":["post-417074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-atlantic-canada","tag-editors-picks","tag-environment","tag-forestry","tag-nature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}