Quebec maple syrup producers fear for the future of their production. They ask that the department revise its plan to ensure the protection of sugar bushes on public land.
Posted at 9:09 p.m.
Still on the drawing board, this plan provides, among other things, for the protection of 24,000 hectares with maple potential. “It seems insufficient to us when you have a vision of long-term development,” said the president of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers (PPAQ), Luc Goulet, in an interview with The Press.
According to the association, if Quebec decides to maintain its target, it will choose to sacrifice the maple trees that will be lost to the forestry industry. Because on these public lands, the forest industry and the maple syrup industry both covet the maple trees. One for its wood, the other for its sap.
The wishes of maple syrup producers are quite different. Of the 400,000 hectares of public forests with maple potential that they believe are available, they want 200,000 to be reserved for “sustainable activities such as maple syrup production, in order to ensure its future for at least the next 50 years”.
On the government side, they say they are open to other possibilities. The threshold established at 24,000 hectares could be called upon to change, indicates Fanny Lindsay-Fortin, on behalf of the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks.
“Our position is to have a dynamic bank [d’hectares exploitables], she says. What we want is to always be able to offer acreage to agricultural producers when there is an increase in applications for operating permits. »
The 24,000 hectares would therefore be available in the short term for applications.
A coveted resource
According to Luc Goulet of the PPAQ, the coexistence of industries must be at the heart of the solutions, since approximately half of the production of maple syrup exploits trees on public lands. Among other things, he highlights the role that maple syrup producers can play in the forest industry.
For example, there are management methods that make it possible to preserve the maple syrup potential while cutting certain trees. The cuts are designed to meet the needs of sugar bushes, while ensuring the formation of a colony of maples that regenerates. The cut wood can then be transported to forest industries.
Ongoing Discussions
The ministry also wants to raise the current standard that defines which maple trees can be tapped. Thus, a maple syrup producer could not harvest sap from a tree of a certain diameter. This measure would be established with the objective of more sustainable practices to allow trees to regenerate better from year to year, defends Fanny Lindsay-Fortin.
This new standard is not well received by producers, who estimate the number of taps they risk losing at 1.8 million. “For us, it still has a major impact on the financial side,” comments Luc Goulet. Tomorrow morning, companies will lose 25% of their income because 25% of their taps do not meet the new standard. »
The PPAQ are discussing with the ministry in order to find alternatives that would be both profitable and sustainable. They claim to know methods that can lessen the negative effects of tapping small trees.
“But as we see in the reports, there are a lot of unknowns and few studies have been done on the long-term repercussions of sap collection methods, points out Luc Goulet. That is why we are discussing it with the department. »
“We want to make room for maple syrup producers, we want to do it and we want to do it in partnership with other users of the territory,” says Fanny Lindsay-Fortin.