Taichung will make school lunches free for all public and private elementary and junior high students from the new school year, which is good for families and could be good for local farmers — if the city keeps buying local.

• The city is budgeting NT$4.1 billion a year to cover the meals.
• Councilors Shih Chih-chang and Lin Chi-feng want the city to keep control of what gets bought and lock in local organic and chemical-free produce.
• The worry: with meals now free, catering companies under cost pressure could switch to cheaper, ordinary ingredients and drop quality local food first.
• Farmers in Dajia, Da'an, Waipu and Wufeng already grow organic rice under contract and would get steady income from school orders.
• Yunlin and Taoyuan have already pushed local organic rice and clean vegetables into their schools.

Outlook: The education bureau has agreed to convene meetings with caterers, the agriculture bureau and farmers' associations to match supply with demand, and councilors want a minimum local-sourcing share written into catering tenders.