The maple syrup cartel is only for quebec, so while it does influence the price to some extent, producers in Vermont and Ontario are in no way required to match the price.

It’s expensive because you need a huge amount of land, it only produces for a few weeks, and you can have years with almost no production. The cartel was created to protect producers against those huge variation of supply from years to years.

Yeah. We make our own from the trees at our house, and it’s appallingly intensive in time, labor, and land. Obviously there are economies of scale, but it’s much, much worse than any other form of hobby farming I do. But the two gallons or so we make a year are great fun for the kids, and what else are you going to do in March?

If growing maple trees is wrong, I don't want to be right!