On October 7, 2016, the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup drew lots to allocate 1.1 million new taps in the young entrepreneur and startup categories. The public draw was held at the Centrexpo in Drummondville and live streamed on the Federation’s Facebook page. A video of the draw and the list of winners can be viewed at fpaq.ca.

There were 282 businesses selected in the draw, including 11 young entrepreneur businesses (whose owners are under 40) and 271 startups on private land. The 1.1 million taps were distributed as follows: 41,995 taps went to 11 young entrepreneur businesses and 1,099,399 taps went to 271 businesses in the startup category.

Another 241,000 taps in the startup category have been reserved for projects on public land. These taps will be allocated at a later date in collaboration with Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs.

The Federation distributed a total of 5 million taps. The remaining 3.6 million taps were awarded to businesses in the expansion category that already have a quota and are looking to expand. These taps were not part of the draw but were given out in batches of 200 to applicants until all 3.6 million taps were distributed.

Businesses that received a quota have until 2018 to integrate the new taps into their production. 

The Federation believes in tomorrow’s producers and is giving them the opportunity to join the collective marketing system by awarding them a minimum of 40,000 taps each year. This year, 41,995 were allocated to 11 businesses in the young entrepreneur category. Young entrepreneur projects that were not picked in their lot were transferred to the startup draw, and 17 young entrepreneur businesses were given quotas in the startup category. A total of 28 young entrepreneur businesses for a total of 123,233 taps have joined the collective marketing ranks—that’s 10% of businesses that won the draw.

Remember that the Federation is now able to issue its own quotas. Decisions are made by the Federation’s board of directors based on seven criteria:

• Sales growth and expected growth
• Strategic reserve inventory levels
• Buyer inventory levels
• Updated actuarial studies on ideal inventory levels
• Increases in productivity
• Compliance rates with new project implementation deadlines
• CIE’s opinion (Conseil de l’industrie de l’érable, the buyer’s association)

If the Federation decides to issue new quotas: 

• They must be issued by May 31
• They must be published in La Terre de chez nous by July 1

When a new quota is issued, the information is also posted on the Federation’s website (fpaq.ca), in Info-Sirop (the Federation’s magazine), and in the magazine Forêts de chez nous.

The Federation warmly welcomes the 282 new maple syrup businesses!