Welsh Veg in Schools is a pilot project co-ordinated by Food Sense Wales that aims to get more organically produced Welsh veg into primary school meals across Wales.
Working with partners that include Castell Howell, Farming Connect Horticulture as well as a host of enthusiastic growers, the Welsh Veg in Schools project is helping to get more locally produced organic vegetables into school lunches.
By leveraging the market opportunity that the Welsh Government’s Universal Free school meal policy creates, and by supporting public bodies to meet their statutory requirements, Welsh Veg in Schools is catalysing organic veg production in Wales and building resilience for the future. This work is crucial if public bodies are serious about meeting their obligations under the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act whilst supporting local communities and building resilience against future shocks and climate change.
In 2023, with support from the Welsh Government’s Backing Local Firms Fund, Welsh Veg in Schools launched its first phase, working with three growers across Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, and Monmouthshire, supported by local Food Partnerships.
Recognising that Welsh organic vegetables are more expensive than veg that’s conventionally grown, the pilot has covered the price gap between local, organic produce and standard prices. In Spring 2024, Food Sense Wales received additional funding from the Bridging the Gap programme to scale the project and expand its reach across the public sector.
What began as a small pilot project has since grown into a movement and in 2024, Welsh Veg in Schools served 200,000 portions of fresh, organic veg in more than 200 schools across Wales.
In April 2025, Food Sense Wales published a series of reports noting the project’s achievements. You can read the various reports by clicking on the relevant links below:
