friend. I called Peter after I talked with Deb in the store.
“We haven’t tried to catch any sap yet,” Peter said. He hoped to have their system up and working in a few days. Which meant he would miss the early big sap run. “It’s a nice year to be out in the woods, that’s for sure,” he said. “But I can’t imagine we’re going to have a good sugar season based on my experience. I’ve always found the best sugar seasons come after long, cold winters. I’ve never seen a winter like this one before. There’s certainly the potential for the season to be short.”
B RUCE WAS DEFINITELY showing an optimistic side when I saw him at the store on the last Saturday in February. He was wearing his boots, his wool jacket, his frayed khakis, and a playful smile. Throughout the morning he kept asking customers about their crops as soon as they passed through the doorway. “Fifteen percent of the crop in February,” he kept saying that morning. Kevin had hit fifteen percent on Thursday, February 23, and the amount was written on a whiteboard near the cash register.
“Three thousand, seven hundred, and thirty-five gallons—fifteen percent of crop,” Bruce said to another arrival. Though his announcement tended to bring silence because the Bascom figures were so out of whack with everyone else that it was impossible to make sense of them. It was like saying, “I jumped thirty-two feet high but can really jump ninety-six.”
There was further reason for optimism, due to the inch of snow that had fallen the night before.
“A little bit of winter,” Bruce said.
Aside from the weather, Bruce was puzzling over a possible syrup deal that morning. He said he was two months long, but because the season was beginning, he thought maybe he could afford to be one month long, and could therefore unload some of his supply. Bruce had been talking with Maple Grove about a deal for multiple truckloads. Maple Grove churned through huge amounts of syrup. Bruce didn’t expect much of a profit, but that wasn’t the point. He wanted a fresh credit line and a chance to acquire new producers. But the deal would be a gamble. If he sold his inventory and the 2012 season turned out to be a poor one, he might be in a bind.
“I have to decide,” Bruce said.
“When?”
“When they call.” He laughed.
Of course there would always be Canadian syrup to fall back on if the US crop was short. Bruce had many barrels from Quebec in his Cooler and thousands to come in the next months from his numerous suppliers there. One of the risks in that option was that Canadian syrup was tending to be more expensive, with the Federation price and the fluctuating exchange rate.
“Federation” referred to the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, the agricultural union that controlled production and marketing of maple syrup in that province. The people of Quebec were passionate about the production of maple syrup, and the cultural tradition was as rich if not more so than that in the United States. The Federation hadmore than 7000 members in 2012. Quebec produced ninety percent of the Canadian crop and about eighty percent of the world crop—five times the production of the United States in 2010. In doing so, the Federation controlled the world market and also set the world price. It had stabilized an industry that often had wild swings in production and price due to the vagaries of winters. Bruce himself admitted that he and the industry had benefited from Federation policies, and he was deeply involved in that organization as a registered buyer in Quebec. But Bruce had also enjoyed speculating during the wild swings in price of past years, and he, like many others, was a critic of the Federation pricing structure, which, he claimed, was out of touch with the marketplace.
Bruce did what he often did when he started talking about the price differential and when I took on a confounded look: he grabbed a piece of paper and started
“We haven’t tried to catch any sap yet,” Peter said. He hoped to have their system up and working in a few days. Which meant he would miss the early big sap run. “It’s a nice year to be out in the woods, that’s for sure,” he said. “But I can’t imagine we’re going to have a good sugar season based on my experience. I’ve always found the best sugar seasons come after long, cold winters. I’ve never seen a winter like this one before. There’s certainly the potential for the season to be short.”
B RUCE WAS DEFINITELY showing an optimistic side when I saw him at the store on the last Saturday in February. He was wearing his boots, his wool jacket, his frayed khakis, and a playful smile. Throughout the morning he kept asking customers about their crops as soon as they passed through the doorway. “Fifteen percent of the crop in February,” he kept saying that morning. Kevin had hit fifteen percent on Thursday, February 23, and the amount was written on a whiteboard near the cash register.
“Three thousand, seven hundred, and thirty-five gallons—fifteen percent of crop,” Bruce said to another arrival. Though his announcement tended to bring silence because the Bascom figures were so out of whack with everyone else that it was impossible to make sense of them. It was like saying, “I jumped thirty-two feet high but can really jump ninety-six.”
There was further reason for optimism, due to the inch of snow that had fallen the night before.
“A little bit of winter,” Bruce said.
Aside from the weather, Bruce was puzzling over a possible syrup deal that morning. He said he was two months long, but because the season was beginning, he thought maybe he could afford to be one month long, and could therefore unload some of his supply. Bruce had been talking with Maple Grove about a deal for multiple truckloads. Maple Grove churned through huge amounts of syrup. Bruce didn’t expect much of a profit, but that wasn’t the point. He wanted a fresh credit line and a chance to acquire new producers. But the deal would be a gamble. If he sold his inventory and the 2012 season turned out to be a poor one, he might be in a bind.
“I have to decide,” Bruce said.
“When?”
“When they call.” He laughed.
Of course there would always be Canadian syrup to fall back on if the US crop was short. Bruce had many barrels from Quebec in his Cooler and thousands to come in the next months from his numerous suppliers there. One of the risks in that option was that Canadian syrup was tending to be more expensive, with the Federation price and the fluctuating exchange rate.
“Federation” referred to the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, the agricultural union that controlled production and marketing of maple syrup in that province. The people of Quebec were passionate about the production of maple syrup, and the cultural tradition was as rich if not more so than that in the United States. The Federation hadmore than 7000 members in 2012. Quebec produced ninety percent of the Canadian crop and about eighty percent of the world crop—five times the production of the United States in 2010. In doing so, the Federation controlled the world market and also set the world price. It had stabilized an industry that often had wild swings in production and price due to the vagaries of winters. Bruce himself admitted that he and the industry had benefited from Federation policies, and he was deeply involved in that organization as a registered buyer in Quebec. But Bruce had also enjoyed speculating during the wild swings in price of past years, and he, like many others, was a critic of the Federation pricing structure, which, he claimed, was out of touch with the marketplace.
Bruce did what he often did when he started talking about the price differential and when I took on a confounded look: he grabbed a piece of paper and started
Similar Books
