Written question WQ97108

The evaluation of the Foundational Economy funded projects for 2024/25 is still underway and is due to be completed in October. Whilst the projects finished in March, final claims and final reports were not received until a month later.

It is pleasing to report some positive results arising from the food projects. These include:

• 1119 jobs have been retained in the food sector, through the food accreditation grant scheme run by Mentera, which supported 73 food firms to achieve the accreditations required to supply the public sector, building a more resilient Welsh supply base.

• We have successfully strengthened relationships between growers and wholesalers through the Welsh Veg in Schools project. Food Sense Wales worked with Castell Howell to employ 8 growers to provide 200,000 portions of organic vegetables to 219 schools in 6 Local Authorities.

• The Larder Cymru project has worked with 8 Local Authorities across Wales, reviewing and redesigning their school food menus to include more Welsh, seasonal produce. The first one to complete was Caerphilly Council, which has resulted in them nearly doubling the amount they spend on Welsh food.

The Menter Mon Tech Tyfu project resulted in Fresh & Tasty Microgreens expanding their business in Abergele to supply microgreens, salad crops and edible flowers to 6 counties across North Wales. In addition, using Menter Mon equipment, Welsh firm Fungi Foods has been able to produce and market their Lion’s Mane mushrooms, delivering 20,000 packets for Aldi.