KPU receives $300,000 from Y.P. Heung Foundation to support sustainable agriculture efforts

Kwantlen Polytechnic University received a $300,000 donation from entrepreneur and philanthropist Raymond Heung and the Y.P. Heung Foundation charity in support of the university’s sustainable agriculture and food systems program and its initiatives. 

Rebecca Harbut, chair and instructor of the program at KPU, says the foundation’s donation will allow the program to offer more hands-on learning opportunities to students so they can succeed in the field of agriculture.

“This [donation] gives us a chance to have post-harvest handling of food, which is super important in the food waste aspect,” Harbut says. “It will give [students] a chance to understand how that works more and how to think about your crop planning.” 

Food waste is one of the significant struggles for the sustainable agriculture and food systems program, Harbut says. With the donation, KPU hopes to recoup some of that food loss and have better storage for food produced on the KPU Farm.

The funding will also work to ensure students are financially secure. Every year, 80 students from several faculties at KPU will receive an award from the university with help from the $300,000 contribution. 

The sustainable agriculture and food systems program requires financial resources to maintain the KPU Farm, in which students spend a year of their studies practising their skills and learning about food production. 

Harbut says the donation will further support students’ learning on the farm and ensure the program can support their initiatives and partnerships.

“Our partnership with the Richmond Food Bank allows us to store produce for longer so we can continue to donate,” Harbut says, adding the donation also gives opportunities to do more post-harvest research and have more flexibility on how they store their food crops.

Students in the sustainable agriculture and food systems program at KPU have access to the KPU Farm to do their research projects and gain hands-on skills to help them navigate real-world working conditions. Harbut says students leave KPU ready to make a change in the agriculture world.

“Students leave knowing how to drive a tractor …. They know how a farmers market works,” Harbut says. “So they get that hands-on learning experience in a very tangible way …. Everything we teach in the classroom, they then carry out in the fields, and the application of their learning is consistent in all the different courses that we do.” 

With the funding from Raymond Heung and the Y.P. Heung Foundation, the sustainable agriculture and food systems program hopes to invest in more infrastructure to build an effective, functioning, and sustainable production system. 

Harbut also hopes the contribution will help improve the KPU Farm so all farmers and students have an innovative place to learn.

“This is about producing food while honouring people and the planet.”

To learn more about KPU’s sustainable agriculture and food systems program, visit www.kpu.ca/science/agriculture.