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This is a funny parallel to the U.S. oil reserve news recently. The Canadian maple syrup market is a fascinating one. I've read before that maple syrup farmers

This is a funny parallel to the U.S. oil reserve news recently. The Canadian maple syrup market is a fascinating one. I've read before that maple syrup farmers in Québec legally must sell their maple syrup through a central organization, so maple syrup smuggling by farmers into other provinces isn't unheard of. It's almost like a maple syrup mafia.

Overtonwindow 5y ago
There’s a great political satire novel by Peter Lefcourt called “The Woody” in which among many problems, a Vermont senator is being blackmailed by the Vermont mob which is the Vermont maple syrup distributors.
db48x 5y ago
Wait until you hear about the US National Raisin Reserve, which existed for 60 years before finally being recognized as unconstitutional.
- ehsankia 5y ago
  Don't forget about the Government cheeeeese [0]? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_cheese https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_cheese
  - gruez 5y ago
    That's not really the same thing. For maple syrup and raisins they're both government mandated supply controls, whereas government cheese is simply government buying up supply from farmers and providing a price floor.
monkeybutton 5y ago
"The OPEC of maple syrup" https://www.vpr.org/vpr-news/2018-03-08/quebecs-legal-maple-syrup-cartel-dictates-prices-for-vermont-maple-producers https://www.vpr.org/vpr-news/2018-03-08/quebecs-legal-maple-...
refurb 5y ago
It’s basically a cartel. But Canada does that with a lot of its agricultural products. Dairy is notorious for restricting supply to keep prices high. It’s why Canadians are shocked to see the price of cheese in the US. A block of Parmesan that costs $20USD might be $70CAD.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- Scoundreller 5y ago
  Thing is, this cartel has no legal standing. There’s nothing stopping a supermarket from selling Ontario or Vermont maple syrup. Quebec is ~70% of world production though, but it’s up to them and them only to control the price. Everyone else benefits without restricting supply. #2 exporter is Myanmar (? this must be a mistake). It’s kinda like OPEC losing its power as other countries up their production. (And every OPEC member cheating).
  - egberts1 5y ago
    Sugar maple, red maple, black maple. Acer genus, Section Rubra provides most of their sugar export in Northern Myanmar despite having their own Maple genus.
  - refurb 5y ago
    Without the cartel it would be a bunch of random producers selling in a competitive market. Now it’s a single seller of Quebec Maple Syrup and you have to buy through them. It looks like some exceptions (small producers). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_of_Quebec_Maple_Syrup_Producers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_of_Quebec_Maple_S...
    - Scoundreller 5y ago
      You have to buy through them if you want to buy Quebec maple syrup, but you can also buy any non-Quebec syrup you want. Even in Quebec. This is very unlike the other food cartels Canadians have a gun to their head to deal with.
jacquesm 5y ago
Canada has lots of de-facto cartels, liquor, milk (and all derivatives, such as cheese), eggs, maple syrup, anything that makes money has a bunch of fat cats that you have to sell it to who will then create artificial scarcity and drive up the prices. There is no free market for many things in Canada. This is sad because the population is not exactly the wealthiest and these people are being fleeced.
- newyankee 5y ago
  I thought Canada is one of the richest countries in the world with a robust system, plenty of natural resources and few people.
  - pomian 5y ago
    the country 's resources makes it one the richest countries in the world. That doesn't make the people rich. a few very wealthy companies though.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - Mikeb85 5y ago
    Some of those are true. But our governments are all shitshows (and all corrupt), there's oligopolies and cartels that run shit, one province is basically controlled by a single family, and the largest industry is a real estate ponzi scheme. Apart from that we're basically a petro-state pretending to be woke.
    - perl4ever 5y ago
      Some of the wealthiest US states also are rumored to be essentially run by organized crime. I can't say I'm aware they are especially bad places to live. I read something about how a certain famous politician who supposedly cleaned out the "X" mob was actually a tool of the "Y" mob taking over.

Overtonwindow 5y ago

There’s a great political satire novel by Peter Lefcourt called “The Woody” in which among many problems, a Vermont senator is being blackmailed by the Vermont mob which is the Vermont maple syrup distributors.

db48x 5y ago

Wait until you hear about the US National Raisin Reserve, which existed for 60 years before finally being recognized as unconstitutional.

ehsankia 5y ago
Don't forget about the Government cheeeeese [0]? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_cheese https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_cheese
- gruez 5y ago
  That's not really the same thing. For maple syrup and raisins they're both government mandated supply controls, whereas government cheese is simply government buying up supply from farmers and providing a price floor.

monkeybutton 5y ago

"The OPEC of maple syrup" https://www.vpr.org/vpr-news/2018-03-08/quebecs-legal-maple-syrup-cartel-dictates-prices-for-vermont-maple-producers https://www.vpr.org/vpr-news/2018-03-08/quebecs-legal-maple-...

refurb 5y ago

It’s basically a cartel. But Canada does that with a lot of its agricultural products. Dairy is notorious for restricting supply to keep prices high. It’s why Canadians are shocked to see the price of cheese in the US. A block of Parmesan that costs $20USD might be $70CAD.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Scoundreller 5y ago
Thing is, this cartel has no legal standing. There’s nothing stopping a supermarket from selling Ontario or Vermont maple syrup. Quebec is ~70% of world production though, but it’s up to them and them only to control the price. Everyone else benefits without restricting supply. #2 exporter is Myanmar (? this must be a mistake). It’s kinda like OPEC losing its power as other countries up their production. (And every OPEC member cheating).
- egberts1 5y ago
  Sugar maple, red maple, black maple. Acer genus, Section Rubra provides most of their sugar export in Northern Myanmar despite having their own Maple genus.
- refurb 5y ago
  Without the cartel it would be a bunch of random producers selling in a competitive market. Now it’s a single seller of Quebec Maple Syrup and you have to buy through them. It looks like some exceptions (small producers). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_of_Quebec_Maple_Syrup_Producers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_of_Quebec_Maple_S...
  - Scoundreller 5y ago
    You have to buy through them if you want to buy Quebec maple syrup, but you can also buy any non-Quebec syrup you want. Even in Quebec. This is very unlike the other food cartels Canadians have a gun to their head to deal with.

jacquesm 5y ago

Canada has lots of de-facto cartels, liquor, milk (and all derivatives, such as cheese), eggs, maple syrup, anything that makes money has a bunch of fat cats that you have to sell it to who will then create artificial scarcity and drive up the prices. There is no free market for many things in Canada. This is sad because the population is not exactly the wealthiest and these people are being fleeced.

newyankee 5y ago
I thought Canada is one of the richest countries in the world with a robust system, plenty of natural resources and few people.
- pomian 5y ago
  the country 's resources makes it one the richest countries in the world. That doesn't make the people rich. a few very wealthy companies though.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- Mikeb85 5y ago
  Some of those are true. But our governments are all shitshows (and all corrupt), there's oligopolies and cartels that run shit, one province is basically controlled by a single family, and the largest industry is a real estate ponzi scheme. Apart from that we're basically a petro-state pretending to be woke.
  - perl4ever 5y ago
    Some of the wealthiest US states also are rumored to be essentially run by organized crime. I can't say I'm aware they are especially bad places to live. I read something about how a certain famous politician who supposedly cleaned out the "X" mob was actually a tool of the "Y" mob taking over.