Project Pickle is getting another funding boost from the City of Delta.
Council recently agreed to provide a $12,000 grant for the program to continue expanding, including building two new school farms, rebuilding two existing school farms and hiring an assistant for the months of September to November.
With the establishment of those farms, Project Pickle will reach the milestone of having infrastructure at every elementary school in Delta, a city staff report notes.
Project Pickle is a local educational program that has been teaching students about food and farming since 2012. Since that time, the program has expanded to include "young farmers" in 59 classes in the Delta School District.
Through Project Pickle, the students learn to plant, harvest and eat food they grow themselves.
At the same time, they are taught the timeline for the process of food going from farm to table, and the career opportunities throughout the supply chain.
Last year, the program got its first grant from the city with a $12,000 contribution, a grant matched from the Delta Agricultural Society.
The report also notes that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the learning opportunities for many of Delta's students and this school year would likely include outside learning as an important aspect of the education.
Project Pickle expects to grow its work as a result.
The program uses underutilized school-owned lands to expose students to the process and steps involved in turning a seed in the ground into food on their plate, from the actual planting through to the hospitality industry that eventually prepares and serves the food at a diner.
