Hi Cory,

A maple syrup cartel? A $13 million syrup heist? Farmers refusing to sell their syrup? Really?!

The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers (FPAQ) controls about three quarters of the world’s maple syrup supply. They regulate production volumes and marketing efforts. By enforcing quotas and controlling the supply, they set the world’s maple syrup pricing. As of today, FPAQ is sitting on about 10,000,000 gallons of maple syrup. Seriously!

And what about this $13 million dollar heist? That happened ten years ago at the FPAQ. Thieves trucked almost ten thousand barrels out of the storage facility, pumped out the syrup, and refilled the barrels with water before returning them. Quite a bit of the pilfered syrup ended up in Vermont.

Photo of FPAQ from Creative Commons 

Some large Vermont producers are refusing to sell their syrup to the bulk buyers right now; they are holding out for a better price. The prices that farmers receive in the bulk market are barely above the production costs. I am concerned that Vermont farms produced only about 60% of their normal crop this season. Most farmers used about 50% more fuel per gallon of syrup produced because the sugar content of the sap was quite low. There are also many fixed costs, like tapping the trees, that farmers must pay for regardless of how good the year’s crop is. As the Maple News reported, this year is shaping up to be a “disastrous season”.

Demand for maple syrup jumped about 25% last year as more people were home cooking and replacing white sugar with maple syrup. With demand high, you’d think that prices would be jumping up. They have gone up a little in the bulk market, but only about 5% to 15% so far. Even though the US had a bumper crop in 2020, it’s pretty much all sold now. Bulk buyers in the US are now scrambling to fill their empty warehouses with barrels of maple syrup.

I don’t want to paint a grim picture of the maple syrup situation, but supplies of US made syrup will be low this year due to the poor season. It’s easy to see why the farmers want to get a reasonable price for their syrup. It’s also easy to see how consolidation and factory farms are becoming the norm as small operations give way to the economic pressures of the maple industry.

When you buy syrup from Maple Farmers, you can rest assured that the farmers are getting paid a fair price. On a per gallon basis, our farmers are paid about double what the large farms selling into the bulk market are getting paid. It truly makes a difference for these small farms. Please support small family farms whenever you get the chance!