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Victoria endorses growing food in city greenhouses, distributing to residents annually

‘This program should be annual, pandemic or not’
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Brian Dierolf picks up vegetable starters from LifeCycles volunteer Adriana Allard at Central middle school on Monday. The seedlings were grown in the City of Victoria nursery and are now being distributed until June 1 to the new or newer gardeners that qualify for the program. (Travis Paterson/News Staff)

A program launched in response to the pandemic, aiming to tackled food insecurity in Victoria could become an annual program.

Get Growing Victoria used city greenhouses to grow food starts – something that hasn’t happened since the Second World War – that were distributed to residents.

Since the program was proposed in March, 42 partner organizations have distributed more than 80,000 food starts throughout the community.

READ ALSO: Victoria to plant up to 75,000 food seedlings; staff explore measures to help construction projects

Council approved a motion from Coun. Ben Isitt and Coun. Jeremy Loveday recommending council endorse in principle the continuation of Get Growing Victoria as an annual program. The Oct. 1 motion also asks staff to report back on the results of the 2020 program and on the implications of continuing the program annually in 2021 and future years, along with asking for input from stakeholders on the continuation of the program.

“This program should be annual, pandemic or not,” Loveday wrote on Twitter.

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READ ALSO: Victoria’s 75,000 veggie plants ready to find a home


 

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