Maple: from soil to syrup
Discover the ecology behind Canada’s sweetest treat in this documentary short, featuring Université Laval Professor Guillaume Moreau.
Money doesn’t grow on trees — except, perhaps, in a sugar bush.
Maple syrup production employs thousands of workers and contributes nearly a billion dollars to Canada’s GDP. Yet there is little scientific data on how to optimize the harvest of this sweet Canadian treat, while preserving the health of the forest.
That’s why, in October 2025, Université Laval appointed Guillaume Moreau as Research Chair in Maple Syrup Production and Sugar Bush Management — a chair created in collaboration with the Producteurs et productrices acéricoles du Québec (Quebec maple syrup producers).
Dr. Moreau believes there’s a lot of potential to expand maple syrup production in Canada — but this expansion must take into account the health of the forest ecosystem and the needs of other users, including recreation, tourism, and the forestry industry.
By bringing together researchers, maple syrup producers, governments and First Nations, the research chair aims to develop a better understanding of this complex ecosystem and to support sustainable management.
“I hope we’ll be able to offer many potential solutions and new insights,” says Dr. Moreau. “It’s a very important mission, to support not only the maple syrup industry, but everyone who has a stake in the forest. We have everything in place to make a real impact on knowledge. And meanwhile, we’re training the next generation of experts who will lead major research projects of their own.”
Join Dr. Moreau on a tour of Université Laval’s research sugar bush and discover the ecology behind Canada’s sweetest treat in this documentary short.
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1 Comments
There was once talk about an element in maple syrup being healing. Something to do with the trees trying to heal themselves from a cut to their skin. Has any research advanced this? I saw the parallel with manuka honey, which Kiwi researchers showed had healing properties in the 1990s. This led to the product development and marketing of vastly premium products. This includes a range of medical burn treatments approved for use in the USA (a film of honey is applied directly to burns). The point is selling the health benefits for $30, not as a generic syrup for $10.