[LINK] "Quebec's maple-syrup industry being challenged"

[rfmcdonald]

I learned from the Toronto Star's Allan Woods that Québec's dominance of the maple syrup industry is being challenged by the province's near neighbours, in Canada and the United States.

A sprouting maple-syrup industry in the United States is challenging Quebec’s superiority, the province’s tree-tappers are nervous about the future and rebel suppliers are rising up against the union that sets prices, handles sales and disciplines those who try to go it alone.

With such uncertainty around the popular cans of sticky, golden sweetness, the bitter side of Quebec’s maple syrup industry can be difficult to confront. But ignoring the problem risks ruin in a fast-changing market where Quebec producers remain the dominant player—for now.

That was the message contained in a sharply contested report to the provincial government last month, which confirmed for a wider public a trend that some producers say they have been seeing for years.

“The maple industry . . . has become a flagship of Quebec agriculture,” wrote Florent Gagné, a former Quebec deputy minister. “However, the greatest danger it could face is . . . refusing to see that real threats are looming on the horizon and have begun taking shape.”

The main threats to Quebec’s dominance are from the United States as well as New Brunswick and Ontario, which have swaths of largely untapped maple forests that are increasingly being put to use.