Tests carried out by a team from the University of Illinois showed bees preferred to collect sugar syrup laced with the fungicide chlorothalonil over sugar syrup alone.

The finding follows other studies linking fungicides to a worldwide plunge in honeybee and wild bee populations which are crucial for pollinating crops.

“Bees are kind of like humans in that they sometimes like things that aren’t necessarily good for them,” said University of Illinois entomology professor May Berenbaum, who led the research.

She said fungicides were bad news for bees because they could exacerbate the toxicity of pesticides and kill off beneficial fungi in hives.

Her team set up two feeding stations in an enclosure allowing the bees to choose sugar syrup laced with a test chemical or without. The chemicals included three fungicides and two herbicides at various concentrations.

The researchers were taken aback to find the bees choosing one of the fungicides.

Chlorothalonil, sold under various brand names including Syngenta’s Bravo, is registered in Canada for disease control in various pulse, fruit and vegetable crops and in wheat.

“It was a surprise when they actually liked them,” Berenbaum told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone, adding that it could explain why fungicide contamination in hives was so common.

“This is not anything that anyone had even thought about before so we need to readjust our focus because there certainly could be implications for agriculture…”

However, she said the bees actively avoided a second tested fungicide and were neutral about a third.

The scientists said the findings were “worrisome” in light of research showing fungicides interfere with honey bees’ ability to metabolize pesticides used by beekeepers to kill parasitic mites that infest their hives.

The scientists were also surprised to find the bees showed a taste for the widely used herbicide glyphosate.

A study by the Center for Biological Diversity last year said hundreds of native bee species in North America and Hawaii were sliding towards extinction.

It said bees provided more than US$3 billion in fruit-pollination services each year in the U.S.

Experts have blamed habitat loss, heavy pesticide use, climate change and increasing urbanization for declining numbers.

The United Nations recently announced an annual World Bee Day on May 20 to raise awareness of their importance and declining numbers.

— Reporting by Emma Batha for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Includes files from AGCanada.com Network staff.

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That’s how much syrup Alan and Johanna McLauchlan produced back in 2004 when they tried tapping a few birch trees for the first time.

It would ultimately lead the couple, who lives about an hour’s drive north of The Pas, to found their own company and produce and sell one of the world’s rarest gourmet foods.

The couple today sells a premium birch syrup made at Rocky Lake Birchworks, made from sap tapped from 1,500 birch trees, processed in facilities on their property, and sold to more than 30 retailers across Ontario, and the three Prairie provinces.

The McLauchlans were guest speakers at Take the Leap, a Manitoba Agriculture rural business conference, describing their own leap into a post-retirement entrepreneurship. The event attracted about 150 participants from across rural and northern Manitoba including new and existing business owners.

“Had I known what I know now I’d have been getting into entrepreneurship sooner,” he said.

• Read more: Online community supports Manitoba’s burgeoning maker movement
• Read more: Passion for food behind successful mustard product company

Busy retirement

Al and Johanna were retired from their careers in the RCMP and municipal management respectively and living at their property on the shores of the pristine Rocky Lake when Al gave about 15 trees that first-year tap. That first tiny volume of syrup piqued their interest to try again the following spring. Over the next five seasons they added more trees and bought more processing equipment, finally founding Rocky Lake Birchworks Ltd. in 2009.

Today they produce and market their own brand of syrup, plus a line of specialty flavoured teas made from chaga, a type of mushroom birch trees produce, a medicinal salve made from cottonwood trees, wild rice and a natural sweetener also derived from trees around them.

The company gained international attention recently when they were featured in a film produced by The Pew Trust called “People of the Boreal.” In the film, and during their talk in Dauphin, the couple talks about the intimate relationship they’ve developed with the land around them and the importance of sustainably managing the resources of the boreal zone.

“We have a real close connection to the land,” Al said. “Without the boreal forest our company is non-existent.”

Being retirees and starting a company in later life definitely worked to their advantage, says Johanna. They’d had fulfilling careers, gained life experience and skill sets from them, plus they were financially secure.

The timing to start something new was just right, she said.

“We like to keep busy and we were looking for a project,” she said.

“Now we’re doing something that we really enjoy.”

Early preparation

In mid-November the McLauchlans are already gearing up for the intense few days in early spring they’ll spend tapping trees, hauling thousands of litres of sap, and boiling and bottling syrup at the on-site processing facilities they’ve established at Rocky Lake. The business now keeps not only themselves busy, but also their sons Andy and Peter.

The McLauchlans say they had lots of support as they pursued the business, crediting staff with the Food Development Centre at Portage la Prairie, Food and Beverage Manitoba, the World Trade Centre in Winnipeg, plus their own network for helping them navigate the complexities of starting the business, launching a brand and connecting to markets from their remote geographic location. They’ve developed an extensive website and made wide use of social media like YouTube and Facebook to tell their company’s story.

New entrepreneurs have many questions and plenty of doubts as they get started, a topic much discussed at the October 23 conference. The McLauchlans spoke frankly about some of their own during a panel discussion.

His biggest personal hurdle starting out was being willing to seek advice, Al said. He needed to stop worrying he’d attract too much attention too early to their business concept.

“To be honest, I just didn’t want anyone to steal our idea,” he told the Dauphin conference.

“Once I got over that, our journey really started.”

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Those cute little cans signal the start of ski season, and time to enjoy hearty breakfasts of pancakes these cold, dark mornings.

Maple syrup is one of those delicious, natural foods you can enjoy knowing the harvest of it contributes to a healthier planet too.

A recent study shows the forests in Quebec — where the PCSC’s syrup is sourced — to be ecological powerhouses. These forests, generally protected under Quebec law, provide over a billion dollars in ecosystem services that are “useful and essential to human well-being and do not, in many cases, have any man-made substitute.”

Maple syrup forests store nearly a million metric tons of carbon each year, a carbon offset equivalent to 290,000 vehicles in a year.

These forests are also havens for other products such as berries and edible plants and they are places that beautify the Quebec countryside and provide sites for recreation and tourism.

The study assigns monetary value to services rendered by nature itself, a value often taken for granted, says the study’s author.

“The evaluation of ecosystem goods and services is an innovative new approach that’s being adopted more and more around the world,” said Groupe AGÉCO associate and study co-author Jean-Pierre Revéret. “The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers has become a pioneer in its usage here in Quebec by applying it to the maple products sector.”

Quebec maple syrup producers have always been rightfully proud of their provincial specialty. This kind of study helps more of us who want to consume food produced in eco-friendly environments a better understanding of the benefits that accrue from our food choices.

Once a maple tree is used for maple syrup production, it is generally protected by Quebec law through a number of provisions and cannot be cut down. There are, however, millions more untapped maple trees in the province, and as such are at risk — like any tree that no one sees use for — of being cut down at any time.

That’s why groups like FPAQ have a reminder for us — that a switch from other sweeteners to something that’s good for the natural world is good for all of us.

One person per household substituting just one teaspoon of maple syrup or maple sugar each day for another sweetener puts two new maple trees into production, according to FPAQ (Federation du Producteurs Acéridoles du Quebec.), a group with a long history of connecting eaters with provincial syrup producers in innovative ways.

That’s one sweet deal. Bon appetit!

The two recipes below – and more – can be found on the Pure Canada Maple website.

Maple Beer Baked Ham

Could any recipe sound more Canadian than this sugar-shack inspired meal? Serve it with a side dish of maple baked beans for a truly Christmas-in-Canada treat.

• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 onion, minced
• 1-1/3 c. strong beer of your choice
• 1 c. chicken or beef broth
• 3/4 c. pure maple syrup from Canada, divided
• 3 tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 2 cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp. coriander seeds
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 5-1/2-lb. smoked pork shoulder (bone in)

In a large stockpot over medium heat, melt butter. Add onions and garlic, sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. Add beer, chicken or beef broth, 1/2 cup maple syrup, mustard, cloves, cinnamon, coriander and pepper, whisking until well combined. Bring to a boil. Add pork to pot. Return to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until meat is tender, about 1-1/2 hours. Preheat oven to 400 F. Carefully remove pork from pot and transfer to a baking dish. Continue cooking liquid until reduced by half. Remove from heat and stir in remaining 1/4 cup maple syrup. Baste meat with maple glaze. Transfer to oven and bake until ham begins to crisp, about 20 minutes, basting with maple glaze every 5 minutes. Carve ham and serve with vegetables of your choice.

Recipe source: Pure Canada Maple

Maple Baked Beans

• 16-oz. dried navy beans, soaked overnight and drained
• 6 c. water
• 1 c. cubed salt pork
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 c. pure maple syrup from Canada
• 1/4 c. ketchup
• 2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp. dry mustard
• 1-1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large, ovenproof pot, add beans and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add pork, onion, maple syrup, ketchup, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Cover and transfer to oven. Cook 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. Remove lid. Cook another 45 minutes. Serve immediately or at room temperature.

Recipe source: Pure Canada Maple

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Two columns of bricks create a makeshift stove, over which giant rectangular pans sit atop a steel table-like structure. Barrels of scrap hardwood, collected throughout winter at our carpenter shop especially for this, stand nearby. As my sister Sonia adds wood, sparks spew from the roaring fire as whistles and crackles create a merry tune. Steam rises from the gently bubbling Manitoba maple sap, filling the air with a sweet aroma. While the sap is boiling, the water-like liquid changes into beautiful golden-brown syrup.

Growing up, the ‘Laura books’ were among my favourites and the maple-sugaring story from Little House in the Big Woods captured my imagination. Little did I know back then a family member would re-enact this treasured memory every year, using our native trees. Each time it brings back happy reading memories, as the last traces of winter disappear.

Weeks before the cooking begins, Sonia goes out and taps trees around our colony. Using spiles she’s made from PVC pipes to tap the trees, the sap drips into repurposed juice or vinegar jugs.

“I’ve tapped 100 trees this year, the most I’ve ever done,” she happily informed me. Less snow, coupled with an earlier-than-normal thaw made that possible, putting Sonia right in her element — enjoying nature and producing a nutritious treat, which she shares with family and friends.

Each year is different when it comes to collecting sap. When spring is nice and mild one week then much colder and wintery the next, it causes the sap flow to be much slower. Ideal conditions are created when nights are -5 C, and daytime temperatures are around +5 C. Maple sapping is a long process, and it takes about 40 gallons of sap to get one gallon of syrup. This year yields have been better for Sonia, she was able to get a gallon of syrup from 34 gallons of sap.

Sonia’s mode of transportation to tap trees and collect sap is usually a golf cart. Loaded with a drill, spiles, pails and jugs she makes her rounds twice a day. With many of the maple trees in wooded areas, getting to them can be an adventure when there’s lots of snow. One year she had to crawl over three- to four-foot drifts to get to the trees. This works well when the pails are empty, but gets more challenging when they’re full of sap, especially since you don’t want to lose any of the sweet goodness.

During wet springs, dodging puddles and mud makes for a different set of challenges. But Sonia takes everything in stride, even if it means plodding through thigh-high snow or trudging through ankle-deep mud, balancing two pails of sap. Of six sisters in our family, she’s the one who embraces the outdoors the most, savouring each season as it comes and enjoying whatever it brings.

Sometimes she takes our five-year-old nephew Jakobi to help collect sap. He loves being outdoors as much as Sonia, and feels very important taking the jugs from the tree and emptying the sap into a pail. However, he tends to get distracted by the puddles that call him for some splash time. One day there were new baby chicks in the barn.

Driving past the barn he asked Sonia, “While you collect sap, I will stay with the baby chicks. Will that work?”

“How about we both collect sap first,” Sonia responded. “Then we’ll visit the chicks later?”

Sonia also makes maple butter, which I enjoy even more than the syrup. A rich layer of this natural goodness spread on fresh homemade bread makes for a delicious and nutritious snack. I close my eyes, savour this seasonal morsel, and reminisce.

I’m a little girl again, licking maple sugar snow candy with Laura.

“Grandma stood by the brass kettle and with a big wooden spoon she poured hot syrup on each plate of snow. It cooled into a soft candy, and as fast as it cooled they ate it. They could eat all they wanted, for maple sugar never hurt anybody.”

Linda Maendel lives, works and writes at Elm River Colony, and is author of Hutterite Diaries: Wisdom From My Prairie Community

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The warehouse in rural Quebec held more than $30 million worth of maple syrup, a whopping 10 million pounds of the amber pancake topping.

It was not clear exactly how much of the sweet stuff was taken in the heist, which occurred at some point over the last few days and was uncovered during a routine inventory check.

“We don’t know yet how much is missing — we do know it is significant,” said Anne-Marie Granger Godbout, executive director of the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers.

Numerous barrels in the warehouse were emptied of their sticky contents. The remaining barrels need to be weighed and tested to ensure the syrup inside had not been tampered with.

The robbers “were wise enough, they tried to hide their crime,” said Granger Godbout. “We just want to make sure we know how much is missing and how much is still there.”

The warehouse, some 160 kilometres (100 miles) northeast of Montreal, is one of many locations where Quebec’s maple syrup is temporarily stored ahead of sale and distribution.

The agency believes the syrup was taken to be sold on the black market. Quebec’s provincial police force is investigating the robbery.

With Quebec’s 2012 harvest expected to top 96 million pounds, the province produces some 75 per cent of the global supply of maple syrup, made from the sap of maple trees.

All the syrup held by the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers is insured and the agency maintains a stockpile of syrup that it likens to a “global strategic reserve,” according to a press release.

“I can assure you there will be no shortage in maple syrup,” said Granger Godbout.

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The government is supporting pilot projects in a select group of stores across the country with Canadian products marked with a special red maple leaf label. But the program only works for obvious products like meat, fish, cheese and maple syrup and offers little benefit for prepared or multi-ingredient products.

The government says the experience so far suggests consumers “prefer to buy Canadian products if they can easily identify them” — but slapping a maple leaf logo on multi-ingredient products has proven to be challenging.

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture launched an initiative several years ago to reform Product of Canada labels so consumers would know the food in the tin or package was grown in Canada, not just packaged here. However, the initiative foundered when the federal government insisted food products would have to have 98 per cent Canadian content — instead of the 85 per cent proposed by the CFA. Since few products can consistently achieve that limit because of the seasonal nature of food production in Canada, the proposal came to naught.

Jean-Pierre Blackburn, then minister of state for agriculture, tried to negotiate a compromise with the food industry centred around exempting some ingredients from the 98 per cent calculation. That idea gained a lot of support but ultimately fizzled out after Blackburn lost his seat.

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Imagine yourself driving down the highway on a sunny afternoon, rice paddies on either side of the road. Labourers stand in ankle-deep water, toiling endlessly under the summer heat. They look up as you go by, waving with smiles on their faces. Up ahead, a sign reads “15 km to. . . Saskatchewan?”

Weather has always been one of the most, shall we say, perplexing aspects of agriculture. We can breed seed for optimum yield, we can control weeds with herbicides. But far as we have progressed in science, we still fall short when it comes to controlling the weather, or in that case, even predicting it more than a day in advance. By the end of this summer in Manitoba, the weather channel stayed safe with the general forecast of “partly cloudy with a 60 per cent chance of rain.”

Farmers spend their lives watching prayers of rain blowing away with the dust or waiting anxiously as dark clouds hang over already muddy fields. What is it about today’s weather that makes it so much more of a challenge than yesteryear?

Well, if we take a look at recent weather-related head-l ines, 2010 has been the pinnacle of several years of abnormal weather, breaking records around the globe. Floods in Pakistan destroyed thousands of villages and displaced millions of inhabitants. Extreme heat in Moscow resulted in a death toll of 700 people per day. Here at home in Canada, out-of-control forest fires in Quebec caused a record number of calls for Montreal’s 911 operators, exceeding those of the 1998 ice storm. In early July, Montreal also saw what Environment Canada is calling the most intense heat wave on record.

As much as we would like to believe this is a year of freak weather, evidence shows that this year may be an example of what could become the norm. “What we’ve seen this summer,” says Pierre Gosselin, of the Quebec Public Health Institute, “is an example of what we will see more and more.”

So what does this have to do with agriculture? Everything.

What happens when you introduce a new climate to an envi ronment that functions based on something completely different? Saskatchewan, which instead

of its regular growing season, experienced a full-out monsoon of a summer. Crops that were planted with the expectation of the usual 33 mm per month of rainfall drowned in the wettest season on record. Some areas received well over 200 per cent of the average spring precipitation.

Are their crops that would survive this kind of excess moisture? Of course. Are any of them currently grown in Saskatchewan? Not by producers looking to turn a profit. Why? Because according to the usual growing season in Saskatchewan, this would be a rather risky business venture.

However, the past few years raise the question: what is the usual growing season of Saskatchewan?

The October issue of this year’sCanadian Geographic outlines the effects of climate change with an example near and dear to our hearts: the maple syrup industry.

Canada produces about 85

per cent of the world’s maple syrup, an export valued at over $354 million in 2009. But impacts of a changing climate are causing concerns about the future of the industry in Canada. Trees are usually tapped in late March, but in 2010, some were tapping as early as January. And even with the use of increasingly sophisticated equipment, sap production has actually declined in the past five years by an average of 29 per cent. The climate maples prefer for producing sap is moving farther and farther north, but the fertile sandy loam that they grow in is not, shrinking the area sap can be produced.

Tim Perkins, director of Vermont’s Proctor Maple Syrup Research Center forecasts that commercial sap production in the United States, second-largest sap producer next to Canada, may eventually be completely non-existent. How much longer before that forecast moves north of the border?

Weather and climate are core factors of crop production. Climate differs across the world, creating growing seasons that vary in terms of heat, moisture, and length. All of these things determine what crops will be planted in the area, how they will be harvested, and the length of time from seeding to harvest among a multitude of other things.

In order to survive in the shifting climates, entire operations will have to be transformed. Crops that have been grown for years will no longer be viable in certain areas. Harvest methods and equipment may have to be altered, or completely overhauled to remain sustainable. Years of acquired information and experience may become obsolete as an entire new knowledge base is needed.

As individual producers, we are not equipped to deal with change on this level. Take the flooding that occurred across the Canadian Prairies this past spring. A combined effort of the provincial and federal governments created the 2010 excess moisture program designed to help producers compensate for unseeded land due to flooding. The result? A payout of $450 million between Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. This in addition to the $1.4 billion already paid out through crop insurance and other risk management programs.

In years like this, it’s programs like these that help producers endure. But these programs are designed as safety nets, enabling farmers to mitigate the impacts of disaster. But if these socalled “disasters” are to become the norm, where will we turn? The reality is, our current farming practices may not be sustainable in the years to come, and this future climate of ours, whatever that may be, really isn’t that far off. We need to learn to adapt as producers, and we need to do it now.

I travelled to Thailand earlier this year, and upon returning home, I presented each of my family members with a small gift. For my grandparents, some artwork. For my mom, some Thai silk scarves. For my dad, a rice paddy hat.

You never know, in a couple years, rice may just be the new wheat of the Prairies.

———

BytheendofthissummerinManitoba, theweatherchannelstayedsafewith thegeneralforecastof“partlycloudy witha60percentchanceofrain.”

The post Facing Up To Climate Change appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The McLauchlan family taps approximately 700 birch trees near their home north of The Pas. They harvested about 700 litres of birch syrup in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and are planning to tap approximately 1,000 birch trees next year, according to a Manitoba government release.

Once their labelled syrup is launched, the family plans to investigate opportunities with other birch sap products.

“Birch sap, as a drink is a traditional natural product well known to Aboriginal people, but birch syrup production is a new industry and marketing opportunity for us and our northern Manitoba community,” said Johanna.

“Our initial product testing and development indicated good potential for this syrup. With government funding and assistance from the Food Development Centre we are able to move forward with our marketing plan to sell our birch syrup throughout Manitoba.”

“Investing in innovative, made-in-Canada products helps producers grow their businesses, benefits their community and boosts the local economy,” said Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, member of Parliament (Provencher) on behalf of Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz. “This funding will help Rocky Lake Birchworks market their locally produced birch syrup beyond northern Manitoba to consumers throughout the province.”

“Birch syrup is a great example of an innovative, value-added, natural forest food product,” said Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Minister Struthers. “This funding partnership provides the opportunity for Rocky Lake Birchworks to investigate the potential of increasing production, complete market testing of its syrup and expand marketing opportunities that will create a new economic opportunity in a Manitoba community.”

Birch syrup is collected with a process identical to maple syrup extraction. Currently, most of Rocky Lake Birchworks’ product is processed and packaged in bulk locally and sold to Italy.

With matched government funding, the company is working with the Food Development Centre in Portage la Prairie to conduct market research, develop nutritional labelling and design new packaging for their product. The McLauchlans’ goal is to process, package and market the syrup in their home community and throughout Manitoba. The budget for this product development is approximately $26,000.

Birch syrup production is a new industry in North America, with Alaska being the largest producer (about 3,800 litres annually).

The Agri-Innovation Suite is part of Growing Forward, a federal- provincial-territorial initiative that is investing $1.3 billion in the agriculture and agri-food industry in Canada.

The post Move Over Maple, Birch Syrup Gets A Plug appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Birch sap was originally consumed as a refreshing, healthy drink by Aboriginal people;

Boiling the sap reduces the product to the consistency of thickened syrup. It takes approximately 100 to 150 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of syrup;

Birch sap/syrup can be used in baking and the production of candy, sauces, wine and beer.

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This is tree-tapping time, when backyard hobbyists and small commercial maple syrup makers alike sally forth to collect the sap that begins sluicing through the limbs and trunks of Manitoba maple.

Just-right combinations of nighttime freeze and daytime thaw are necessary to start the flow of sap, which is really a chemical reaction in the tree brought on by the warming and cooling of the sun’s lengthening and strengthening rays.

As the spring thaw accelerates, the starch, which the tree accumulated during the previous year’s growth, changes into sugar, then mixes with the water the tree has absorbed through its roots to form a sap.

Don’t let anyone tell you we Prairie dwellers miss out on maple syrup season because we don’t live where the sugar maples grow; our Manitoba maple is also a prolific sugar maker and makes one of the sweetest syrups you’ll ever taste.

Mid-March and through April is our “sugaring season.”

Lillian Deedman of Killarney is among this province’s many backyard sugarers, and wrote to us recently about getting ready to begin tapping her trees. Lillian has also kindly sent us some of her favourite maple syrup recipes too.

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