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Local food on the plates of BES students

There are four new Farm to School programs to celebrate in the Kamloops region, including Barriere Elementary
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Barriere Elementary School students and teacher Val Williams are shown this summer growing food for their school meal program at the Barriere Community Garden.

October is Farm to School month, a celebration of all that is happening across Canada to get more healthy, local, and sustainable foods into the minds and onto the plates of students.

There are four new Farm to School programs to celebrate in the Kamloops region – at Barriere Elementary (BES), Clearwater Secondary, Logan Lake Secondary, and the Skeetchestn Community School.

All are focusing on growing food in school gardens, learning to cook in Foods classes and the Cook It, Try It, Like It program developed by Interior Health as well as growing relationships with local farms, fishers, hunters and ranchers to supply food for school meal programs and celebrations.

The Kamloops region is celebrating as one of three new hubs for Farm to School BC, a diverse and expanding provincial network that connects Farm to School programs across the province. Kamloops is an ideal regional hub, with abundant and diverse local food, the first established Food Policy Council in Canada, and a strong partnership between the school district and health authority.

“Bringing local food to schools is truly a holistic approach to health- of our students, our land and our local economies,” says Sherry Stade, healthy schools coordinator, School District 73.