Province to fund school meals

Public schools across BC will receive funding for student lunches through a partnership between the BC Ministry of Education and the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

An official announcement will be made shortly, but agriculture minister Lana Popham told the BC Greenhouse Growers Association’s annual reception November 12 that the funding will support stronger sales for their products.

“I expect that the greenhouse and vegetable farmers here in British Columbia will see an uptick in provincial sales because of that,” Popham told growers, describing the program as “one of the coolest projects we have going right now.”

The program will provide funds to support kitchen facilities at schools as well as purchases of primary and processed products.

“It means that all of our public schools across British Columbia will have access to funds to have a school lunch program right in the school,” she said. “I can’t wait to be able to make that announcement and tell you more details about it.”

The program follows on programs launched as part of the Feed BC program that have seen local purchasing programs rolled out at universities and hospitals. Public schools were next on the agenda for inclusion.

The reception was the first major social event for greenhouse growers since March 2020. While the association has held in-person AGMs for the past two years, this year’s reception in Langley was the association’s first since 2019. It attracted growers and allied trades as well as government representatives.