City of Victoria votes to step up food production due to COVID-19 pandemic

The City of Victoria council has voted in favour of stepping up its food production in response to COVID-19.

City staff will now be planting more food and there will be a 20 per cent reduction of hanging baskets around the city. Seasonal displays will continue as planned.

The council had the option of either halting all of the city’s decorative plants and transition to food production or a partial transition. A partial transition means 50,000 to 75,000 food plants will be produced over the next four to six months.

Staff will be growing plants in the Beacon Hill Park nursery.

“By simply scaling up our already existing Growing in the City program, we can grow food plants and work with partners such as Urban Food Table on distribution,” Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said.

That Council authorize the scaling up of the Growing in the City initiative with the following
actions, to increase community resilience and food security in response to COVID-19:1. Temporarily reprioritize the focus of some Parks Department capacity to grow food plants
from seed in the municipal nursery and greenhouses for planting in the 2020 growing
season, harnessing expertise on appropriate plant selection from stakeholders in the
Urban Food Table.

2. Work with stakeholder organizations in the Urban Food Table, School District 61 and local
farmers to develop a distribution plan for food plants, soil and educational resources to
scale-up food production and increase community resilience and food security.

CHEK Newsletter

Sign up for the CHEK Now daily email newsletter to get breaking news and the day's top stories sent to your email.

Email Address

Sign Me Up

3. Adhere strictly to workplace safety and public health guidelines during the implementation
of this program.