The New Brunswick Maple Syrup Association is looking for an additional 12,000 acres of government crown land to help meet the demand for maple syrup.
New Brunswick is the third largest producer of maple syrup in the world and currently produces from about 0.4 percent of the productive forest land in the province, according to producer Marco Martin.
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Martin, who also speaks on behalf of the NB Maple Syrup Association, said the larger land was needed and would be critical to continue producing maple syrup in New Brunswick.
However, the government was slow to lease the land to the producers.
“Unfortunately, there have been a lot of excuses that have come up since the spring,” he said in an interview Monday. “The whole nine meters. Mention the excuse, there are a bunch that came up. Today we are tired of listening to those excuses and we basically want action. ”
He said the request for an additional 12,000 hectares is a small drop in the bucket of the productive forest land and will have no impact on the forestry industry.
This caused a bit of a tough situation between the maple syrup producers and the organization representing the forestry industry.
Forest NB, which declined an interview with Global News on the subject, said in a statement that it was “disappointing to see the New Brunswick Maple Syrup Association supporting a campaign that degrades existing forest product companies when they have opportunities”. must seek to work with the industry to achieve mutually positive outcomes. ”
It said it was misinformation that the forestry industry was harvesting on land identified for maple syrup production.
“One of the more unfortunate narratives being propagated is that companies in the forest sector are harvesting the proposed forest areas that have been identified as potential maple sugar potential before being allocated to syrup producers,” Forest NB said in the statement.
“Ironically, this misinformation about the forest sector’s management of hardwood, and forests in general, only serves to drive wedges where we need to work to find solutions.”
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Forest NB said Crown-licensed land is required to manage identified areas with high maple content according to the High Content Maple Special Management Zone Policy.
Martin said this is not what it is about and the association just wants to co-exist with the forestry industry.
“We are only asking for a very small part of what is the general forest today,” he said.
“We have no problem with the wood industry cutting wood, do not get me wrong, we think, and we believe that the forest industry in New Brunswick is a crucial part of this economy. However, we believe there is room for both the two players in the match, in the province on Crown lands. “
He said he could not stress that point enough, that there was room for both industries to get what they needed from New Brunswick forests.
The Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development said in an email that they, together with the Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries, “continue to be committed to working closely with the New Brunswick Maple Syrup Association and others producers and processors on growing exports of sugary businesses on both Crown and private land through various programs. ”
It said it had received an expansion plan, and it was evaluating it against all other land uses possible.
“We are working to promote this file, which will include consultation with First Nations and further discussion with industry.”
There is no word in the statement on when the extension can be granted to the association.
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Reference-globalnews.ca