Essay: Canadian Maple Syrup

Americans are focused on the wrong border. It’s not Mexico with all this suspect talk about building a wall, but Canada, with its mounties and deceptively friendly population, that threatens our way of life. If this entire nation was not founded on the free flow of syrup, it should have been. And now, as anyone who has a sweet tooth for some good, sweet Canadian maple syrup can tell you, the price of syrup has recently remained stable and high. According to a Bloomberg article published in February 2018, one gallon sells at a cost of a whopping $32. That values one barrel of this sticky, sweet, Canadian elixir at over $1,800–13 times the price of oil. Now I know what you’re thinking–it must be the Russians…or…could it be–Aunt Jemima! No. It’s actually our beloved Canadians, who, organized as an ironfisted cartel, have established a stranglehold on the maple syrup industry. Now, I know you probably think I’m lying or at least have a considerable amount of questions, or maybe you just don’t care about Canadians or their fancy syrup so let’s just jump right into this, eh’. Well, we won’t actually jump into the syrup because that would be a mess, but you know what I mean. Today I’m going to start by giving you some background information on this infamous Canadian cartel, formally known as the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers; next, I’ll give you the perspective of some of the producers and discuss how they chose to react to the cartel’s newly imposed regulations; and finally, I’ll talk about a heist that changed the face of Canadian history.
Formed in 1966, FPAQ had the task of transforming a business in which very few could make a decent living. A Vanity Fair article published in December 2016 explains that the problem with a free market in the maple syrup industry is that in seasons where the maple syrup yield was too high, producers could not make a good profit on their yields because the market would become saturated with syrup, which drove prices into the dirt. As for seasons in which the yield was too low, prices would be way too high, which would turn consumers off and drive them away from buying maple syrup. In 1990, FPAQ adopted a provincial joint plan for maple syrup producers, which would begin to regulate the trade of maple syrup. Though the federation had been operating for around 30 years, they had very little to do with industry regulation until the early 2000s. At this time, the National Post claims that the Federation became a full-blown cartel. Producers became locked in to selling their syrup through the federation, which charges $0.14/pound of syrup sold for administrative and marketing costs, doesn’t give producers immediate access to their funds, and places quotas on the amount of sap that can be harvested. At the beginning of the season, producers are given a quota. Producers who produce over their quota must turn over all surplus barrels of syrup to the Federation. Now get this, Canada has a strategic Maple Syrup Reserve–all of these surplus barrels are stored in this reserve, so when there is a low-yield year the federation can dip into the reserve in order to keep the market prices stable. The problem is that barrels can potentially sit in the reserve for several years before being sold and producers are not paid until their syrup is sold. On the federation’s website, they claim that the majority of producers are content with these rules and a poll of its members found that 82% were happy. But two recent reports commissioned by the provincial agriculture minister in 2016 and 2017 found that the rules were hurting Quebec producers while encouraging their competitors outside the province, and they seem to prove that a large amount of Quebec’s producers are in fact unhappy with the federation. Now let’s see what some of the producers had to say about the federation and get some perspective on how some feel it is helping their businesses while others feel it is hurting them.
Perhaps the best firsthand account of the federation’s regulations comes from Robert Hodge. In 2015, Hodge was interviewed by the New York Times. For weeks, guards hired by the Federation kept watch over Mr. Hodge’s farm. Then one day, the federation seized 20,400 pounds of maple syrup, his entire annual production, worth about $46,000 USD. This incident was part of the quickly-escalating battle with farmers like Mr. Hodge who break the law by not participating in the federation’s system. Hodge, rather than participating in the Federation, sells his syrup to a buyer in Toronto, which is illegal. Hodge, who is 68 said, “It’s a good thing that I’m not 35, 40 years old because I’d pack up all my sugar equipment that’s movable, and I’d go to the United States — oh yes, in a minute, in a minute, eh.” Quebec is the center of the maple syrup industry, providing over 70% of the world’s supply and fulfilling the majority of our needs here in the states. The federation, in turn, has used their dominance to restrict supply and control prices of syrup, against the wishes of many producers. When producers decide that they do not want to deal with the federation’s policies, they are heavily fined and often forced straight out of business. See, besides having their syrup seized, producers are heavily fined on every pound of syrup sold illegally. The National Post explains how one rebel can easily accrue hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, and most exhaust all of their legal and financial resources before finally signing their remaining assets over to the Federation and filing bankruptcy.
Now, it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. What’s the hype behind this infamous maple syrup reserve? Well, basically, the Canadian Maple Syrup Strategic Reserve is a treasure trove, with inventory, at any given time, worth around 300 million dollars. This reserve has had the effect of pooling wealth, creating a similar sort of target Willie Sutton meant when he said he robs banks because that’s where the money is. Cash is light, making it an easy target. But one barrel of maple syrup weighs around 600 pounds. So surely there is no way to steal any significant amount of syrup, right? That’s what FPAQ thought. The New York Times calls it the Lufthansa heist of the syrup world. In the summer of 2012, the federation did a routine warehouse inspection and noticed over 10,000 empty barrels. Inspectors called FPAQ and just like that the facility was swarming with investigators. It was a mystery, as the facility had no cameras. Who on Earth would steal syrup after all? And even if one wanted to how would they carry it away? About 300 people were questioned and about 40 search warrants were executed in the investigation. This may seem very excessive for some stolen syrup, but let’s put this into perspective–almost 600,000 gallons of syrup were stolen-12.5% of the reserve-with a street value of about 30 million US dollars. This became known as the Great Maple Syrup Heist and is credited as being the largest organized crime in the history of Quebec. Everyone figured people had done it, I mean do martians even like syrup? But how? It’s heavy, sticky, hard to hide, and hard to smuggle. The warehouse is a rented facility, which means that others have access to the building in which the maple syrup is stored. Basically, the conspirators had access to the shared facility and were equipped with a truck on which they would load the syrup. They would then either siphon the syrup from the barrels and return the barrels full of water back to the reserve or simply siphon them in house and leave the empty barrels. Most of it was ultimately recovered after painstaking hours of retracing criminals’ footsteps through the black market. The major ringleaders are now serving hefty prison sentences.
It’s now time for some truth tea. Or dare I say some sincerity sap. Hold on to your pancakes, everyone. Aunt Jemima is a fake. Truth! There was no Aunt Jemima. In the 1930s, General Mills bought a German brand and repurposed it with a fake character. She isn’t even real. She and her pal Mrs. Buttersworth are nothing more than some fabricated facades which portray log cabins and imply a connection to the forest which does not exist, only to cover up some low-grade high-fructose corn syrup. The Federation has been too busy helping to track down the fugitives who stole 600,000 gallons of syrup from them to come for these deceptively sweet ladies, but don’t worry–they’re next. Enjoy your view from that Walmart shelf while it lasts, Aunt Jemima, your days are numbered. So now that we’ve thrown a sufficient amount of shade at the real rebel of the syrup industry, let’s recall that the Federation quickly rose to power, the producers have split opinions as to whether this is a good or bad situation, and some have ultimately chosen to rise against the federation. Quebec’s maple syrup producers are currently in political turmoil over this issue, which is why it is important for producers to make their voices heard in this debate that in the years to come can change the industry for future generations, and permanently impact the Canadian economy. So there you have it, Mrs. Butterworth and Aunt Jemima aren’t who you think they are, two sweet ladies, living in a Log Cabin in the woods of Canada, they are actually an elusive component in this infamous Canadian rebellion.