Ontario maple syrup producers hit by climate change, some urge carbon reductions | 24CA News

Increasingly unpredictable winter temperatures have Ontario maple syrup producers involved about how local weather change will have an effect on the business’s future, with some pushing for environmentally pleasant practices to scale back the sector’s carbon footprint.

Prolonged delicate circumstances final month had maple syrup producers in southern Ontario tapping bushes for sap in early February — considerably sooner than when tapping season has traditionally begun in early to mid-March. A chilly spell final week then pressured a pause on the early begin to operations.

The government director of the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers’ Association mentioned there’s proof that spring-like climate is beginning earlier annually, creating uncertainty within the delicate freeze-thaw cycles that producers depend on.

“We’ve always had winter thaws, but they’ve become more significant in the last 20 years,” John Williams mentioned in an interview.

“They’ve increased in the frequency we’ve had them and also the length of time that we stay warm, so it’s harder for us to estimate when we should be tapping.”

The swings in climate imply producers must rush to faucet bushes when temperatures shift unexpectedly, with little time to organize for the operations.

“We get behind the eight ball when those kinds of quick transitions happen,” he mentioned.

Changes in expertise utilized in maple syrup manufacturing have usually helped producers take care of the problem, however the sector is watching the scenario fastidiously, Williams mentioned.

Some bigger operations in southern Ontario have purchased stands of maple bushes in northern areas as a result of the viable temperature zone for making maple syrup is shifting farther north.

Producers have additionally needed to take care of more and more frequent windstorms that uproot maple bushes, in addition to invasive pests that may unfold with rising temperatures. An infestation of tent caterpillars in 2018 left some Ontario producers with 30 per cent much less syrup than the yr earlier than.

The maple syrup producers affiliation nonetheless expects substantial development over the following 10 years, with thousands and thousands of faucets being added in Ontario, Quebec and a few American states. And demand for maple syrup reveals no signal of slowing.

Keeping up with world demand would require tapping 120 million extra bushes by 2080, the business has mentioned. That will add to the carbon ranges within the environment as a result of wooden or different fossil fuels burned to boil the sap collected from maple bushes all the way down to syrup.

Paul Renaud, who owns a sugar bush in Lanark Highlands, has been working with the maple syrup producers affiliation to get producers to change to carbon-neutral practices by making their sap evaporators extra environment friendly.

It takes about 40 litres of sap to make one litre of maple syrup. Renaud mentioned 85 to 90 per cent of emissions {that a} maple syrup producer has comes from the boiling of sap.

If sap evaporators are extra environment friendly, carbon emissions will be reduce down considerably, he mentioned. Well-maintained maple bushes additionally retailer extra carbon by way of a course of referred to as pure sequestration — through which bushes soak up and retailer carbon dioxide, serving to cut back greenhouse fuel emissions, Renaud mentioned.

Efficient operations might encourage producers to faucet extra bushes, making it unlikely for these bushes to be reduce down and due to this fact permitting extra carbon to be saved in forests, he added.

The mixture might ultimately result in producers having net-neutral, and even net-negative, emissions, Renaud mentioned.

“There’s no false choice between being green and being profitable,” he mentioned. “Being profitable generally means reducing waste and unnecessary expenses, and as you become more efficient, you consume less energy, your carbon footprint goes down.”

Climate change is having a considerable impact on the maple syrup business, Renaud mentioned, and excessive climate occasions like windstorms can have devastating penalties. If a maple tree is blown over, it could take 40 years to develop one other tree to the dimensions required for tapping, he mentioned.

“You can mitigate it by being part of the solution,” he mentioned. “The reality is our collective activities can make a difference.”

Peter Kuitenbrouwer, a registered skilled forester who’s writing a e-book concerning the historical past of maple syrup in Canada, mentioned an general transition by Canadians to renewable vitality is required to assist mitigate the consequences of local weather change and, in flip, assist shield the maple syrup sector.

It’s essential to guard the business from the consequences of local weather change due to its cultural worth as effectively, he mentioned.

“It’s this symbol of renewal, spring, hope, kind of redemption after the misery of winter,” he mentioned. “I think that’s something a lot of Canadians relate to.”

&copy 2023 The Canadian Press