B.C. doles out grant funding to bolster food manufacturing sector

The B.C. government is contributing $6.6 million in grant funding to food and beverage manufacturing firms across the province, saying the funding will help create jobs and bolster domestic food security. Minister for Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation Diana Gibson meets with Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin during the swearing-in ceremony at Government House in Victoria, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (Chad Hipolito / The Canadian Press)

KELOWNA, B.C. — The B.C. government is contributing $6.6 million in grant funding to food manufacturing firms across the province, saying it will help create jobs and bolster domestic food security.

Jobs Minister Diana Gibson says money from the province’s manufacturing jobs fund will go to seven B.C. companies, including $2 million to Kelowna-based Farming Karma Fruit Co. for a new processing facility and equipment.

Gibson says the funding will help create 32 jobs in Kelowna, while other firms receiving funding include One Degree Organic Foods in Mission, which makes cereals and other products from non-genetically modified ingredients.

The minister says investing in the province’s food manufacturing sector is crucial to strengthening the B.C. economy, while it’s under threat of “unjustified” tariffs from the United States.

The Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food say in a statement that Surrey’s Prabu Foods Inc., a vegetarian snack food company, is getting $662,000 to more than quadruple its production capacity.

The statement says other firms getting funding include North Delta Seafoods, Trafa Pharmaceuticals, Brown’s Bay Packing Co. in Campbell River and VitaminLab in Victoria.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2025.