 What a great place to be It's good to be here a Morse farm. Thank you. And we've got Tom Morse here Killing into the ever-fantastic Burr Morse. That's right You know, we're here talking maple, and it's really But it's become something that is not just iconic It's really been an essential tool that's helped a lot of our farmers diversify And hang in in what is a very tough agricultural environment Naples sugaring has used technology to become more efficient to increase the output and verminers Have with their maple sugar association done a very good job on marketing and the Vermont brand Is really unique for the best quality We're here today because the food and drug administration is on the verge of Potentially passing a requirement in food labeling that would be extremely threatening to Vermont people But the what they're proposing to do is require a nutrition label that there be a statement saying added sugars There are no added sugars maple is a pure product and Added sugars to the consumer connotes corn syrup or some other added elements that are not natural and A lot of consumers don't want added sugar. They want pure products Nothing more so than maple syrup so why in the world is the FDA proposing to require a label that actually misleads rather than informs and And that's one question, but the second reality is that that would be very detrimental To the identity of this product. It's really essential to Morris farm And it's really essential to so many maple sugar farmers here in the state of Vermont Senator Leahy and senator Sanders and I are going to push back hard on what we think is a gross mistake by the food and drug Administration where they're mislabeling in the name of labeling and giving information. They're giving misinformation. There are no Added sugars and pure Vermont maple syrup. All there is in pure Vermont maple syrup is pure tasting pleasure We'll get to that in a little bit But I want to thank everybody For what they've done and I want to now turn it over To senior senator State of Vermont a lot of time maple syrup and kind of sewer and Senator There's only one guy and that's good one Here, thank you for for putting this together Larger thank you for coming to the office the other day Ms. Marvin others who did here's the You can see this but here's the two labels where we're talking about for the same thing and Calories remain the same and all that but the label on the left says You know the calories and so on but then the label on the right Says it's 17% added sugar. There is no added sugar In pure maple syrup like there isn't in pure honey. I use an example of this with a good friend of ours Going through a lot of illnesses came on and so on and myself spent a lot of time with her and she was told she couldn't have sugar In her coffee, she could have sugar and some things because it's processed and the Doctors didn't want but they said the one thing you can have is pure maple syrup well In our home in Vermont our home in Washington. There's plenty of that myself delivered it the next day So I asked the commissioner to come in and see and we have a long talk with running the experts from Agriculture Committee and Appropriations Committee and talk to them and say, you know, this is a mistake and He's well aware of pure maple syrup and vastly to make a change. I also Talked a few things in the appropriations committee now in the last farm bill it was helpful to work on this because Peter would handle it on the house side And what we were bringing to conference I would on the Senate side and we were able to To accomplish something but I've had this I put in language requires the FDA to report to the committee of efforts to address consumer confusion that's what I told the Commissioner you're going to have to respond to what this is as an easiest way of course to say I I Analyze the new trade value of maple syrup and Can it be exempted also put in three million dollars for the Eastern Maple Grant program Which is two million dollar increase Newly impractical research another three and fifty thousand I'm trying to make it clear to them. This is not just a Passing thing. I was born just a couple miles from here. I know how much work goes into Into the maple industry. I went with my grandparents in South Rye game. I went other places and see this This is an industry that we want to keep in Vermont. We want the Vermont label to mean something pure Vermont maple syrup otherwise you what you're going to have They just make this all the same. You're going to have this cockamamie kind of corn syrup We're probably a picture of a Vermont maple shed on it. There's no maple in it. It is all sugar and that's We gave the result of the commissioner the difference between a barrel real maple syrup I would have offered to give it to him. I didn't want to think it'd be a bribe It is gonna make it go but this This will hurt this industry All three of us are going to fight it like that Peter's fighting in the house. I'm fighting both the appropriations committee and the agriculture committee With the legislation we're gonna have both committee. So thank you for doing this time I feel at home here I've been here so many times that We're in the kids and grandkids are in town. They love Tom put him to work. That's right. That's right. Tom Morris our host. Thank you very much Pleasure to have you all here and the congressman Matt Gordon from our state association here with us and Boy, what a great thing to have these two guys work on our behalf and in Washington and Mastering so much great work With the marketing of our our state product here And and like Patrick saying that that's just the wrong approach for the Federal government to be taken. We don't we don't need that. We need positive marketing. It's a pure Natural product comes right from the trees right from the soil around here. We just refine it and We market it and we keep the quality as high as we possibly can It's 67% maple sugar and that's that's what it is nothing more nothing less We're very happy to be a part of this This new marketing that the state of Vermont our associations doing sending syrup all over the country all over the world Vermont has such a good name when it comes to Premium maple syrup and we like to think it's the best. I don't want to knock other states or Canada That premium reputation and we're proud of it. We're not we're not all factory operations like they are in Quebec and Ontario Our government kind of stays out of it. We kind of regulate things as far as the how much we make and there's no quotas and We're all just very proud of what we do and very proud to have these gentlemen working on on our behalf So thank you guys Well Thank you both for for speaking up on this issue Like we've insinuated There is some maybe some disagreement over what maple syrup is best between the US and Canada in each of the states But one thing the maple industry has really come together with is that this makes no sense Which seems like a pretty easy thing to agree on This is it's it's clear that when applied that broadly this is this is an example of well-intentioned federal regulation that is totally illogical when applied in this context and it this is something that If the federal government can't figure out that this makes no sense Doesn't give you much hope for for the ability of us to solve any problems It is it's it's just a It's obvious. It's obvious. Why would you put added sugar on a bottle of maple syrup? It's not gonna it's not gonna help move anybody forward. It's not gonna Let consumers know that they're eating sugar. I mean this is a bottle of syrup that they're putting on their pancakes They know what they're doing And it's really gonna hurt really gonna hurt the maple industry In a way that's that's unnecessary and illogical so thanks, thanks again to you both for For fighting, you know fighting for the maple industry. I think it's it's a Long long history of Vermont's representatives doing that and and that's why we have such a great product That's Roger. Thank you. Matt Gordon Thank you, and thank you both for all the work that you've done on our behalf of the industry we greatly appreciate it There's a there's a sense of irony here that 125 years ago in 1893 the Vermont maple sugar makers Association was formed chiefly to protect against Alterated maple syrup where people were adding sugar to syrup and selling it or create or using the Vermont brand Illegally and selling non maple syrup as pure maple syrup pure Vermont maple syrup And here we are today sort of fighting federal regulations that are making it look like we are adding sugar to our product and we're in fact not adding anything at all so there is a There's definitely a bit of irony and a bit of what's old is new again as well and you know in 2015 study found that the Vermont maple industry some sugar makers processors equipment manufacturers and dealers Contributed about 350 million dollars to want to convict in that time there are industries has grown even further We've produced more syrup. There are more people tapping trees both more taps set out in the year So I suspect that number has increased and the maple industry is bringing jobs to parts of the Vermont Where we're a little underserved Jobs can be a little scarce and in a time of year one of the trades are slow in the springtime So anything right now that could slow down the growth that we are seeing in our industry It could be very detrimental to maple producers Really do appreciate the work you guys are doing on our behalf to help push back against this. Thank you very much Thanks, Matthew In our last speaker Erica Campbell is here on behalf of senator Sanders, and I just have a question for Bernie Wherever you are, this is a better place to be I am so sorry that senator Sanders is not here today The maple industry is so important to our state not just in those big hundreds of millions of dollars in direct impact But all of the indirect and tangible impacts are so hard to measure Really up about our quality of life here You know, this is really unfortunate, you know, I think this whole added sugar thing We know that Americans have issues with sugar and we need more consumer education and Proper labeling around sugars in our diets This is an obvious unintended consequence that we did not want to see and so, you know senator Sanders is on the health committee that oversees FDA and We're not sure where this will go there. We're really grateful that senator Well, she are really taking a hard look at this because from all indications that we can see from the health committee We don't know where you know where this will go To be honest, we're not sure if this issue will These rules will be really opened up So, you know any any movement we can make through the farm bill and other areas I think will be critical To making sure that, you know, we don't have this you the maple industry has fought so hard for the purity of their product And you know, whether it's taking on the corn industry giants or out of state maple producers capitalizing on on Vermont's good name. So Just want to say thank you for all the work. Thank you to the maple producers for doing incredible work all the time Thanks everyone. Thank you. Thank you. I think it's time for our tasting test Just the moment we came for and then we can take a few questions, but Matt you want to you want to pass out samples Right now we're all home reception. This is what Homer had for breakfast I As Marcel will tell you And we're now ice cream. All right, here's the Vermont pure maple syrup. All right That is good any question You have D.A. Discorrecting You mentioned it too that with the concerns Obesity diabetes and all you should have some indication, but this is like saying Putting a label on a boat and saying use this in water Not on the highway. I mean it You say this is It's not added sugar maple syrup is maple syrup and what in my meetings with the commissioner and with the Addendum I put in the appropriations by trying to get their attention. I don't mind having Shoulder labeling the things where you add sugar By honey maple syrup Come on. That's like saying this red paint is red Well, that's what that's what we're hearing a bit in the house From the earth dakota And we're writing to the fba commissioner urging him to take that out, but what you're seeing with that Yeah, the added sugars really makes no sense. You can't justify it and The fact that they're coming back to us is an indication to some You know my experience, I mean these labels. Yeah, short calories have not changed at all In this thing, but it gets very very confusing With the added You know the fda It's a very important Agency to help protect health, but they get labeling wrong a lot of times Added sugars of our added sugars. We had a real problem with the fda when it came to cheese. They were going to ban cheese boards Because one facility was wrong and that we put a lot of our folks out of business They were going to deny the opportunity for our beer makers To use their spent grain and give it to local farmers So they get it wrong they overdo it and it takes pushback in this case from the maple producers The beer makers from the cheese makers to just get it right Nobody is more interested in having pure of them on maple syrup and its reputation maintained than the maple syrup producers That's their that's their life So the fda's got to get get it right and I get it wrong I know I just wish some of the people actually write These regulations cedar mentioned the cheese boards or or this would spend a couple days What they make maple syrup spend the couple days places like Like hardback or especially the cheeses that being made Spend some time and see what is involved you know It's been too much time working in a free package Factory produced stuff that is not lucky to have here When the final rules coming out the fda said this spring Well, I think it may be delayed a bit after our meeting we hope That's the meeting we had with the commissioner And we're following up actually this week and both our offices are And by the way, there is bipartisan support for this. I mean whether you're a maple sugar producer in vermont Or michigan This is going to have an impact and of course it has the same impact on honey So kevin kramer they have in north dakota. They have a big honey production Issue and they'd be adversely affected as well So that's that's actually, you know, I think strength in our hand and it's also the case that The maple producers are like, you know, they're like real wonderful people We can't be we can't be making your life hard your hard life harder We're talking about But the thing is It was interesting when I raised this In the appropriations commission They never thought of it most of the A couple have there from This part of the part of the country But you know, there's all yeah, that makes sense And it stood very very quickly Anyway All right. Thank you There might be some extra maple syrup here I'd grab some It's really good