Page 15 - RealDirtENG2020
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QUICK
FACT
It takes almost 40 litres of raw maple sap to make one litre of maple syrup51.
The ultimate Canadian crop
Career Pro le
Maple Syrup Producer
Jo-Anne Beaucage
“In life, or for work, where our farm is located is marvellous. We’re so lucky!”
And for 40 years, Jo-Anne Beaucage has lived in that lucky location, 121 hectares of woodlands on the edge of La Vérendrye provincial park, a two-hour drive north of Ottawa. Originally from Montreal, Beaucage moved to the area with her husband to start maple syrup production at Sucrerie Beaubel.
Today the farm has 27,000 taps, including on crown land made available to Quebec’s maple syrup producers to promote sylviculture (sustainable forest management) while increasing maple syrup production. That meant almost 40,000 litres of syrup in 2020 at Sucrerie Beaubel, one of the largest full-time maple syrup producers in the province.
Although most of the farm’s syrup is sold commercially, Beaucage has started producing some certi ed organic syrup for sale at the markets in Ottawa through a program organized by Quebec’s maple syrup producers’ federation. “We work hard and like all entrepreneurs
we always try to be ef cient as possible, but quality is always important; we must have respect for the product,” she says.
It doesn’t get more Canadian than maple syrup! And Canada is a leader in the production of this golden goodness, supplying about 71 per cent of the world market. Québec is by far the biggest maple syrup producer in Canada—more than 90 per cent of Canada’s maple syrup comes from that province52.
Indigenous people taught early Canadian settlers how to harvest sap, and boil it to make maple syrup. Maple sugar was the rst kind of sugar produced in eastern North America, and remained the standard sweetener until 1875, when cane sugar became available53.
DID YOU KNOW?
That the world has a Global Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve? Yup, and it’s in Canada—a collection of warehouses that have stockpiled over 100 million pounds of maple syrup54!
Chapter 2: Crops and plants 15
