Editorial – InfoSirop magazine, Spring 2022

President’s Editorial

This is my first opportunity to speak to you on these pages since I was elected president of Québec Maple Syrup Producers (QMSP) on May 25^th. I take the mantle of leading Québec’s maple producers with great pride, but also great humility. The road traced by my predecessors has been built on unity, struggle, and passion. This road is called collective marketing.

File to watch: Public lands

Over the past three months, your organization has not been idle. No, far from it. We have been fighting to protect the sugar bush in public forestlands with work on the provincial round table on maple syrup production assembled by the Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs du Québec (MFFP). We also took an active part in the public consultation for the Ministerial Master Plan for the Development of Maple Syrup Production in Public Forests.

You can be sure that, during the next election campaign, our voices will be heard by Québec’s politicians. Our demands are clear and precise: the protection of 200,000 hectares of public forestland with syrup potential, keeping the tapping standard to 8 inches, the overhaul of local integrated resource and land management tables (TLGIRT), and actions that promote the growth of the maple industry for years to come.

[…] the future of maple syrup production in public forests lies in the balance. […] MFFP must set logging limits that preserve the potential of maple production by caring for our maple forest resource.

As you and I both know, the advancement of maple production in public forestlands is essential to the future of our industry. And, just like maple producers, your organization plans for the long term. In order for us to be able to expand our businesses or make way for new start-ups, MFFP must regulate logging to preserve maple forests and protect their potential for syrup production. Too many producers are already witnessing logging operations that ravage and destroy stands of maple forest.

New agreement

This summer, QMSP also began negotiations on a new maple syrup marketing agreement. We’ve already had one meeting with the Conseil de l’industrie de l’érable (CIE), which represents authorized buyers, on this issue. We are currently working on various scenarios and aspects to be addressed in the agreement. These have been documented. Last year, we conducted a study on maple production costs which, for some time now, have been rising dramatically. Quite simply, all our inputs cost more in 2022. For our businesses to be profitable, the price of bulk maple syrup must be reviewed.

Thank you Serge

I will close by paying the best possible tribute to the man I try to replace, Serge Beaulieu. Committed and passionate to our cause, he is a maple producer from Ormstown, in the Montérégie. He has devoted 32 years to us, 14 as QMSP president. Please reflect on that. Serge, on behalf of 13,300 maple producers, thanks for what you have done for us and the collective marketing system for maple syrup. A special thanks goes to you for your openness and willingness to listen!

Over the coming weeks, I will be coming to see you during the annual regional tour. I am looking forward to meeting you very much and hearing what you have to say. Please come to your regional meeting and invite others. Your participation is important to our organization.

We are a collective.  Together, we progress.

Luc Goulet
President, Québec Maple Syrup Producers