Marjolaine Legros and her husband Jean-Jacques Carraro live in uncertainty. They normally produce 2000 jars of mustards per day, but today this production is no longer a shadow of what it used to be.
“There, I can’t have old-fashioned mustard, I called again this morning I’m waiting for an answer, I’m crossing my fingers because I’m making my applesauce mustard with that… Done that I’m waiting for…”, explains the owner of Moutardes Legros, Marjolaine Legros
The global mustard shortage puts their business on life support. The great droughts on the Canadian prairies, as well as the war in Ukraine, crippled the industry, and it was the smallest producers who suffered the most.
“There’s more in the shelves, so… There are rumors going around that… I’ve seen that, I don’t know if it’s true or not, but it said there’s stocks that would be retained in Europe”, denounces the couple.
The business had prepared for expansion, but the couple could not anticipate the current context. He can’t do anything but wait, which jeopardizes his business activities.
“I would like to have a crystal ball to be able to tell you what the solution is, but I can tell you that it is difficult. (…) Apart from listening, we can’t plant for them, we don’t have any land at the UPA to plant for them. But we can be there, we can look at what the opportunities are, how it’s coming and then try to give opportunities to these people to help them, ”denies the regional president of the UPA, Michèle Poirier.
Ukraine and Russia are huge grain producers. When the rare shipments arrive by boat, it is often the big players who swallow it all up.
“I read myself this morning that there was a cargo ship which had just left Ukraine full of cereals and there I hope it is coming to Canada. It has already started, but we must not forget that we are in a shortage that is coming quite solid, ”said the regional president of the UPA.
The couple from New Carlisle, who have been producing for 9 years, however, do not lose sight of their objective and are even delighted with the small gains.
“We’re a bit at the mercy of all that and we’re still hopeful… there I managed to get a little bit of it last week towards the end of the week. I was quite happy. I did a little bit of production, but working piecemeal isn’t… it’s the same job…”, explains Ms. Legros.
If the situation does not change, the duo would like to at least have the time to pass the torch to passionate craftsmen like them.
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