If you use the cafeterias at any of the Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) campuses, you’ll be in for a very local treat soon.
KPU has partnered with Feed BC and food service provider Compass-Chartwells to bring fresh, organic produce grown by its Richmond farming students to its cafeterias.
Students at KPU’s research farm, on the Garden City Lands, will gain hands-on farming experience and play a role in the planning, planting, and harvesting required to bring produce from farm to table.
“Feed BC is a program to not only encourage buying food grown locally but to also to help those growers and producers of these local products to connect with us, create those channels and ultimately supply us with their produce,” said David Stewart, executive director of facilities services at KPU.
The Institute for Sustainable Food Systems (ISFS) at KPU is a major resource for the university’s partnership with Feed BC by being able to offer “experiential learning” to students on the Richmond Farm School and the Tsawwassen First Nation Farm School.
ISFS also supports regional food systems by providing information and support for farmers, communities and local businesses.
“It couldn’t make any more sense for us to be serving fresh products, made by KPU students and faculty, in our cafeterias which feed our students and faculty,” added Stewart.
KPU has committed to having 30 per cent of all food in campus cafeterias sourced from local suppliers, including KPU farms.
