Investment foundation grows

The sky’s the limit as the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC keeps growing.

A review of the organization’s performance at its annual general meeting, held online September 13, noted that $17.8 million was granted to 1,209 projects through 18 programs in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023.

“Many more programs are coming online in 2023,” remarked board chair Jack DeWit.

The province’s announcement of a $200 million package of food security spending in early March will account for many of the 12 additional programs IAFBC will administer this fiscal year. Those programs will see IAFBC administer a total of $120 million for programs from basic food security initiatives to disaster preparation and processing and distribution initiatives.

IAFBC treasurer Paul Devick reported that government contributions in the last fiscal year totalled $20.2 million, a sum he expects will more than quadruple in the current fiscal year thanks to the province’s suite of food security programs.

This was the first annual meeting following the shift in IAFBC’s year-end to March 31, to match those of its government partners who provide the majority of the program funding IAFBC administers.

While the organization has typically covered 60% of its operating costs with allocations from the IAF Trust, this did not happen in the latest fiscal year. Instead, the foundation’s operations were funded entirely on a cost-recovery basis, allowing it to retain more funds for programming that benefits producers.

When plans to move to a full cost-recovery model were initially announced last year, with the IAF Trust providing no more than 20% of operating funds in a given year, the hope was the goal would be met within three years.

“It’s pretty exciting when we see that we have total cost-recovery now to run our organization,” DeWit says. “That’s something to be really proud of.”