$3.5 million in support is helping bring a new food program to students
Support from RBC to the University of British Columbia (UBC) is helping students as well as the greater ag community.
The bank gifted $3.5 million to the university to help fund multiple initiatives.
One is a food prescription program for the student community.
This program will begin in September and run out of UBC’s Gateway Health Building.
As part of the program, students accessing health services may be asked about food security. If clinicians identify a risk, they will create a personalized food prescription for students and connect them with the proper campus resources.
Food insecurity is an issue among post-secondary students.
A UBC study from April 2025 found about 40 per cent of students at that school experience some form of food insecurity.
And overall, 40 per cent of all Canadian post-secondary students are food insecure, Macleans reported in 2021.
RBC’s gift also strengthens existing UBC resources.
The Farm Practicum in Sustainable Agriculture, for example, runs from April to October and provides learners with an introduction to small-scale mixed vegetable farming.
“It is designed for aspiring farmers and community food growers, as well as those seeking to deepen their understanding of agroecology, the food system, and the pursuit of food sovereignty,” the program website says.
And for the greater ag community, UBC runs the BC Food Web.
This resource translates research into digestible briefs farmers can take back to their farms.
One brief posted in May, for example, is a summary about biochar for dairy manure and how it’s used.
More than 5,100 users worldwide have used the platform in the last year.