BC Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation (BCAITC) is a registered nonprofit organization that works with educators through various programs to bring British Columbia's agriculture to elementary and secondary students within the province. Students learn about where their food comes from, how to grow their own food, and why farms and agriculture play such an important role in our society.
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Governance
The foundation is part of a national group, Agriculture in the Classroom that operates across Canada through individual provinces. Though partially supported by government, the foundation relies on financial support from the agricultural community to sustain its activities.
The organization's mission is: “Working to bring BC’s agriculture to our students".
The foundation has representation on its board of directors from teachers, the provincial government, financial institutions, nutritionists, producers, and dieticians.
Summer Institute
The Summer Institute is a course put on by BCAITC for teachers who want to learn more about agriculture. This course is designed for teachers in the BC school system to explore practical ways to integrate concepts related to food production and consumption, food safety, agricultural issues, and sustainability across the curriculum at all grade levels. Through active participation, field trips, guest speakers, video presentations, and the like, participants will expand their knowledge of agriculture and food concepts and issues and reflect on their own values and orientations to the topic. Ways to incorporate this new knowledge into existing courses will be explored with ethical defensibility being the guiding principle. The goal is to produce curriculum projects that can be implemented in schools or other settings. The course is put on in partnership with the University of British Columbia.