Progress 01/01/12 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: This project is a campus / community initiative involving researchers, university centers and non-profits working with rural community food retailers, stakeholders and producers to sustain the economic viability of food and agricultural systems in rural communities and enhance the quality of rural life. The applied research and extension project has worked to identify business development strategies for rural grocery stores to promote sustainability of small and medium-sized farms and surrounding rural communities. Our project scope focuses on rural communities in Kansas and Nebraska (rural communities of 2,500 or fewer citizens) to build on the working relationships the project directors have cultivated in these states, but our project outputs will be applicable to rural communities nationwide. Specifically, our case study businesses include rural grocery stores and their owners in Sedan, Cuba, Minneola, and Smith Center, Kansas and Hebron, Nebraska. Just as the need for the project has been brought forth by community partners, our community stakeholders have been involved in every stage of project implementation and evaluation. The target audience for this project included the owners of the five case study stores, citizens within those communities, citizens within the counties where these case study stores are located, grocery owners who have attended our previous rural grocery summits and/or reached out to access our rural grocery website, and food distribution stakeholders. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The major opportunity for training and professional development was the 4th National Rural Grocery Summit held in June 2014. The summit attracted 180 participants from a total of 16 geographic areas, including 15 states and the District of Columbia. Based on an evaluation conducted K-State’s Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation: Motivations for participating in the summit included: helping sustain rural communities helping sustain rural grocery stores gaining information about the business-related topics increasing healthy food access The four highest rated summit breakout sessions were: “Marketing Your Store via Social Media” “Rural Grocery Toolkit” “Improving Your Bottom Line: Customer Service” “Using Public Policy to Improve Rural Food Access” The two most highly valued take aways from the summit were: “The Summit provided me an opportunity to network/connect with other professionals involved with rural grocery operations (e.g., funders, grocery distributors, grocery owners).” “The Summit provided me with new information/resources that I will apply in my work.” How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? AFRI partners disseminated research findings in a variety of ways including: Hosted a national Rural Grocery Summit Rolled out Rural Grocery Toolkit on the Rural Grocery Initiative website: www.ruralgrocery.org Delivered three presentations at national conferences Delivered two presentations at statewide conferences Convened and facilitated regional conference on food distribution (60 participants from Midwest). Our research findings are also disseminated through the Center for Rural Affairs (NE) media (3,000 on newsletter list); through the Kansas Rural Center’s media (1,200 on newsletter list); and through K-State Research and Extension media services (2,200 on news contact list). Posted research news on our digital media including: www.ruralgrocery.org. The website contains information and resources generated from the AFRI project including reports, PowerPoints, scholarly articles, survey tools, stories about our case study stores. Our Rural Grocery Facebook page. We currently have 349 likes for our Facebook page. Our Rural Grocery Twitter page. We currently have 200 followers on Twitter. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Produced Rural Grocer Case Study Report (2013). We conducted interviews with the owners of each of our case study stores and developed a case study report. The interviews revealed a clear gap in the business strategies based on the scale of the grocery stores. The stores in communities smaller than 1,000 people needed to be creative and entrepreneurial in their daily operations to ensure they purchased from their wholesalers more than the specified minimum buying requirement. If they wanted to work with local farmers and allow them to sell local produce in the store, it would cut into the weekly orders from their wholesalers. In contrast, the stores in communities with more than 1,000 people did not have that concern and were willing and able to accommodate requests from local growers. The results were presented at Kansas State University’s Risk and Profit Conference. See H.H. Peterson, H.H. (Aug. 2013). Developed Rural Grocery Tool Kit (2014). (http://www.ruralgrocery.org/resources/). The Rural Grocery Tool Kit was officially rolled-out at the 2014 National Rural Grocery Summit (June 9-10, Manhattan, KS.). This resource library or “tool kit” was designed to provide resources to two primary audiences: those who are considering establishing a grocery store and existing rural grocery store owners. Key business strategy resources in the tool kit include: Assessing the market Starting up grocery operations Understanding the legal and licensing requirements of running a grocery store Financing opportunities for rural food retail Examples of various rural grocery business operation models, and Marketing rural grocery operations Facilitated Food Distribution Dialogue (2013). We enhanced business networking among rural grocers by convening and facilitating a Food Distribution Dialogue involving sixty individuals representing various stakeholder groups (grocers, food distributors, institutional buyers, local growers, food access NGOs, and academics) from three states (KS, MN, NE). The most significant accomplishments from this facilitated dialogue were the networking from groups, businesses, and individuals that were not familiar with one another prior to the gathering and also the notion of the rural grocery tool kit. Facilitated Community Food Assessments (2013). In 2012, Kansas State University invited Sharon Thornberry of the Oregon Food Bank to campus to train AFRI partners in a community food assessment process called FEAST (Food Education Agriculture Solutions Together). Through 2013, AFRI partners used those community conversation and assessment process in our five case study communities. Minneola, KS: Minneola’s grocery store is “owned” by 167 community members. There is a Grocery Store Board of seven owners that meet monthly. Because so much of the community’s time and money is invested in the store, they have identified that it is vitally important that the focus of conversation remain the viability of the grocery store. The board has identified challenges the store still faces and is engaging the community and outside resources such as K-State to address those challenges. They recognized opportunities such as working with the school and recruiting more youth to volunteer. Through this project, we have seen an increase in the store’s capacity and energy efficiency, the development of a new relationship with the hospital and a local restaurant, students invited to volunteer at the store for school credit, and ignited interest in customer loyalty campaigns. Cuba, KS: This community articulated a shared goal of strengthening their community. Repeated inquiry across interviews and meetings indicated that local and healthy food were not among the top priorities of those engaged. Instead, community members prioritized concerns with dwindling population, dilapidated housing, and generational transition issues above all else. The grocers and restaurant manager indicated in private interviews that, while the community enjoys their stores as community centers, the majority go elsewhere to meet the bulk of their food needs – especially the more mobile youth population who work out of town in larger towns. Follow-up interviews indicate that the three greatest impacts were: introducing the Booster Club to housing resource people to help resolve housing issues, general inspiration and empowerment resulting from bringing a large group of the community together, and a marked and sustained increase of youth involvement in community planning activities over time. Smith Center, KS: After consulting with a number of stakeholders on the ground and learning about the history of faction-based tensions among constituents, KRC determined the best path for our AFRI work would be to avoid duplicating the budding coalition’s effort and exhausting the valuable time resources of those key contacts already involved. A major impact KRC had in Smith Center was persuading the coalition to add to its membership an area farmer who supplies local produce to the local grocery store. That farmer remains involved, and the coalition is pleased that she may be able to support their work in constructing community gardens and/or increasing healthful local foods production and consumption in the area. Sedan, KS: Though interviewees were warm and generous with their time, KRC met more resistance to community assessment activities in Sedan than in any other community. Local community members all warned that their peers are private people, reluctant to engage in collaborative efforts, and that the timing was not right to host a community foods event. A few specific identified concerns: The Kansas Rural Center had limited impact in Sedan, beyond the deep and independent engagement of diverse individuals in lengthy conversations about their food choices, the area food system, and local community dynamics. Diverse stakeholders indicated to KRC that the idea of bringing this particular community together to work on food issues was neither needed nor desired at this time. Davenport, NE: Findings: Participants indicated that a better local food distribution system was needed in order to better access healthy foods. Necessary Steps to improve the local food distribution system included: Organize local food access champions- Schools, Families, Churches, and Social Services Identify strategies to bring food to Hebron and Thayer County, NE Identify a central location, like Davenport where food could be distributed Communicate this food distribution process by: advertising to churches, schools, etc.; sending notes home with Backpack families Identifying the families in need Convened and Hosted National Rural Grocery Summit (2014). K-State hosted the 4th National Rural Grocery Summit in June, 2014. This summit was our largest and most successful. The summit attracted 180 participants from a total of 16 geographic areas, including 15 states and the District of Columbia. Based on an evaluation conducted K-State’s Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation: Motivations for participating in the summit included: helping sustain rural communities helping sustain rural grocery stores gaining information about the business-related topics increasing healthy food access The four highest rated summit breakout sessions were: “Marketing Your Store via Social Media” “Rural Grocery Toolkit” “Improving Your Bottom Line: Customer Service” “Using Public Policy to Improve Rural Food Access” The two most highly valued take aways from the summit were: “The Summit provided me an opportunity to network/connect with other professionals involved with rural grocery operations (e.g., funders, grocery distributors, grocery owners).” “The Summit provided me with new information/resources that I will apply in my work.”
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
o Brown, C.F. (2013). Rural Grocery Stores Use of Communication Channels: An Exploratory Study. M.A. Thesis. Kansas State University.
o Kahl, D. et al. (June 2014). Toolkit for Rural Grocery Owners. Presentation. 4th National Rural Grocery Summit, Manhattan, KS.
o Manning, Leslie (Oct. 2014). The Rural Grocery Initiatives Rural Grocery Toolkit. Poster Presentation. Kansas State Research and Extension Annual Conference. Manhattan, KS.
o Menefee, D.C. (2013). Mediating Effects of Social Capital and Grocery Stores on Obesity Rates in Rural Food Deserts. M.S. Thesis. Kansas State University.
o Miller, H. (June 2014). Rural Grocery Marketing. Presentation. Rural Grocery Summit. Manhattan, KS.
o Peterson, H.H. (Aug. 2013). Rural Grocery Initiative. Presentation. Risk and Profit Conference. Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS.
o Improving Rural Food Access through Regional Development: Kansas State Universitys Rural Grocery Initiative. (book chapter). In Universities in a time of crisis: Their role in regional development. Eds. M. Osborn, P. Welsh, J-M. Filloque, & C. Carlot. Leicester, UK.
o Procter, D.E. (March 2014). Kansas State Universitys Rural Grocery Initiative. Presentation. Healthy Food Financing Initiative. Washington, D.C.
o Procter, D.E. (June 2014). Kansas State Universitys Rural Grocery Initiative. Presentation. 4th National Rural Grocery Summit, Manhattan, KS.
o Procter, D.E. (September. 2014). Kansas State Universitys Rural Grocery Initiative. Presentation. Kansas Built Environment and the Outdoors Summit. Wichita, KS.
o Procter, D.E. (2013). The rural grocery crisis. (Book Chapter). In J. Mauk (Ed). Culture: A reader for writers. New York, NY. Oxford University Press.
o Procter, D.E. (Feb. 2013). Business Strategies for New and Existing Rural Grocery Stores: Roles of Local Producers, Institutional Buyers, and Community Food Assessment. Poster Presentation. Program Directors Meeting for AERC Funding. Washington, D.C.
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Progress 01/01/13 to 12/31/13
Outputs
Target Audience: This proposal is a campus / community initiative involving researchers, university centers and non-profits working with rural community food stakeholders and producers to sustain the economic viability of food and agricultural systems in rural communities and enhance the quality of rural life. The proposed, applied research and extension project aims to identify business development strategies for rural grocery stores to promote sustainability of small and medium-sized farms and surrounding rural communities. Our project scope will focus on rural communities in Kansas and Nebraska (rural communities of 2,500 or fewer citizens) to build on working relationships the PIs have cultivated in these states, but our project outputs will be applicable to rural communities nationwide. Specifically, our case study businesses include rural grocery stores and their owners in Sedan, Cuba, Minneola, and Smith Center, Kansas and Hebron, Nebraska. Just as the need for the project has been brought forth by stakeholders, stakeholders are involved in every stage of project implementation and evaluation. For calendar year 2013, the target audience included the owners of the five case study stores, citizens within those communities, citizens within the counties where these case study stores are located, grocery owners who have attended all of our previous rural grocery summits, and food distribution stakeholders. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Smith Center, KS: KRC community assessment work in Smith Center included a number of one-on-one interviews and participation in one in-person large-group meeting. The interviews and meeting involved conversation with local grocery store managers, health department personnel, farmers, school district staff, extension agents, and others interested in responding to community health needs. The large-group meeting was organized and hosted by a Smith County Health Department nurse, as part of a Chronic Disease Reduction grant she received from the statewide Health Department. The grant project is focused on conducting a community health needs assessment and KRC was welcomed to attend the group’s February gathering but, as an outside agency, KRC was prohibited from participating in future related community events. The nurse, who is leading the existing assessment project, explained this to KRC: “we are just starting to build our coalition and focus on becoming stronger, so at this time we are only letting members of the local coalition come to meetings.” Findings After consulting with a number of stakeholders on the ground and learning about the history of factions-based tensions among constituents, KRC determined the best path for our AFRI work would be to avoid duplicating the budding coalition’s effort and exhausting the valuable time resources of those key contacts already involved. Impact A major impact KRC had in Smith Center was persuading the coalition to add to its membership an area farmer who supplies local produce to the local grocery store. That farmer remains involved, and the coalition is pleased that she may be able to support their work in constructing community gardens and/or increasing healthful local foods production and consumption in the area. Sedan, KS: KRC community assessment work in Sedan included dozens of lengthy (most were one hour or more) one-on-one interviews, both in person and via telephone, with a number of key community contacts. Contacts in these interviews included local business owners, farmers, extension agents, health department employees, grocery store staff, and passionate retirees. Findings Though interviewees were warm and generous with their time, KRC met more resistance to community assessment activities in Sedan than in any other community. Local community members all warned that their peers are private people, reluctant to engage in collaborative efforts, and that the timing was not right to host a community foods event. A few specific findings: Farmers Market Unknown - When KRC asked grocery store staff for details about the farmers market advertised (via a large roadside sign) as being held in their lot they responded with confusion indicating they had never known there was a market in their store’s lot. Local farmers also indicated confusion that such a market existed – and did not believe there was much existing demand for their products in their local community. Local Foods Believed to be from and for “Outsiders” – KRC learned that a local investor is in the planning stages for starting a local-foods focused restaurant in the town, but farmers and community members suspect that the restaurant would be more likely to serve outsiders than the local population. A local farmer who successfully managed a u-pick and sold large amounts of farm products to wholesale accounts, indicates that he is called an “outsider” by locals and that it is primarily outsiders to the town that comprise of his customer base. However, the farmer did indicate that hiring local teens as harvesters has increased goodwill in the community and raised awareness about the quality and affordability of his products. The farmer hopes the restaurant will succeed in the same – though Chautauqua is among the very poorest counties in our state. Local Grocery Not Believed to Have What Young People Need – A few interviewees described a deliberate decision to avoid shopping at the locally-owned grocery store– traveling to other towns or across stateliness, or ordering from online companies. For items needed in a pinch, they suggested Dollar General was their preferred choice. Price was not a concern, but rather the convenience of clear and predictable displays and diverse product choices. One interviewee sources fresh produce from an internet-based mail order service, similar to a CSA. She says the product is fresher than what she would get at the grocery store, though she is not given a choice about what product she receives. Mobility a Key Factor in Food Shopping Choices – While older-generations, especially retirees, may not have transportation capacity to bring them to other food outlets, younger generations often travel outside Sedan for work and thus have far more shopping choices. Predictable accessibility of diverse food types were a priority for those interviewed, all of whom voiced interest in supporting local but indicated that the local store did not meet their needs. Impact KRC had limited impact in Sedan, beyond the deep and independent engagement of diverse individuals in lengthy conversations about their food choices, the area food system, and local community dynamics. Diverse stakeholders indicated to KRC that the idea of bringing this particular community together to work on food issues was neither needed nor desired at this time. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Disseminate the research reports, tool kits, business plan, in-depth case studies report, and community food assessment progress reports. Activities: AFRI partners disseminated research findings in a variety of ways including: Three presentations at national conferences Two presentations at statewide conferences Convened and facilitation regional conference on food distribution (60 participants from Midwest). Reported our research findings at this meeting. Our research findings are also disseminated through the Center for Rural Affairs (NE) media (3,000 on newsletter list); through the Kansas Rural Center’s media (1,200 on newsletter list); and through K-State Research and Extension media services (2,200 on newsletter list). Posted research news on our digital media including: www.ruralgrocery.org. The website contains information and resources generated from the AFRI project including reports, powerpoints, scholarly articles, survey tools, stories about our case study stores. Our Rural Grocery Facebook page. We currently have 309 likes for our Facebook page. Our Rural Grocery Twitter page. We currently have 124 followers on Twitter. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Examine the use of local foods, institutional sales, and value-added enterprises on the economic performance of rural grocery store. Case Study Interviews (2012). We conducted the interviews with the owners of each of our case study stores. The interviews of five store owners in the fall of 2012 were written into a case study report. Pertaining to the relationship between local farmers and store owners, the interviews revealed a clear gap in the strategies based on the scale of the grocery stores. Even though the cases are focused on local and independently owned stores in communities with less than 2,500 people, the threshold seemed to be around 1,000 people. The stores in communities smaller than 1,000 people needed to be creative and entrepreneurial in their daily operations to ensure they purchased from their wholesalers more than the specified minimum buying requirement. If they wanted to work with local farmers and allow them to sell local produce in the store, it would cut into the weekly orders from their wholesalers. In contrast, the stores in communities with more than 1,000 people did not have that concern and were willing and able to accommodate requests from local growers. The results were presented at Kansas State University’s Risk and Profit Conference. See H.H. Peterson, H.H. (Aug. 2013). Understand consumer shopping behavior and preferences from the general population, with particular focus on the roles of their support for local communities and convenience factors (product variety and travel distance) on their store choices. In May and June, 2013, Dr. Peterson mailed 9,143 surveys to rural grocery customers in four Kansas counties and one county in Nebraska. These counties are the counties where our five case study grocery stores are located. The survey asked respondents questions regarding local social capital, shopping behavior and preferences, and perceived strengths of the local community. Surveys were designed to better understand how rural grocery shoppers choose locations to shop for their groceries. These surveys are currently being analyzed. Identify science-based business strategies regarding the role of local foods, institutional sales, and value-added enterprises. Develop tool kits for business strategies related to starting up and operating rural grocery stores. Develop sample business plans for rural grocery stores. Goals 3-5 are addressed through our “Rural Grocery Initiative Toolkit.” Project staff worked on the toolkit through much of 2013. The toolkit will be officially rolled-out at our 2014 National Rural Grocery Summit (June 9-10, Manhattan, KS.). The goals of this project include objectives to address business strategy questions faced by new and existing grocery stores in rural areas and to create resources or “tools” to benefit rural grocers and communities. These resources and tools will be communicated by sharing them through our Rural Grocery media, Cooperative Extension, and the network of the Kansas Rural Center and Center for Rural Affairs. The key areas of focus for our resource development included: Developing a “tool kit” for business strategies related to starting up and operating rural grocery stores. Sample strategies include: “The Local Food Niche: Thriving Grocers, Thriving Communities;” “The Local Food Niche: Buying and Selling Local Farm Products.” Embedding sample business plans for rural grocery stores within Tool Kit; and identifying campus and state resources for grocers to tap into. Facilitate business networking among the case grocery stores, local producers, and institutional buyers. The AFRI Rural Grocery project team organized and held a Food Distribution Dialogue (February, 2013) which engaged seven stakeholder groups, including rural grocers and resource providers, in important discussions regarding rural food distribution. The facilitated exercises provided structured time for participants to discuss food distribution issues, within groups composed of diverse stakeholders, and the scheduled breaks provided unstructured time for participants to network and discuss food distribution issues. A survey was provided to participants of the Food Distribution Dialogue and respondents agreed that the meeting 1) provided them the opportunity to network/make connections with other professionals interested in food distribution that they typically would not have, and 2) provided them with new contacts related to food distribution that will be useful to them. They also shared that the most worthwhile components of the meeting included the discussion/dialogue and the participants/networking. Minneola, KS: The Kansas Rural Center (KRC) began community assessment work with a number of phone and email correspondences with community members and Minneola’s Mayor. As a result, the community conducted a conference call in April organized by KRC to gain a better understanding of the community’s food access needs. Discussion was focused on the needs of the community and what the community members felt important to advance the viability of the grocery store. On April 22, KRC staff traveled to Minneola to visit the grocery store, help unload and stock groceries, and conduct an informal community meeting or “mini-FEAST.” Nine community members were present – including the community Mayor, grocery store manager, and seven community members (including farmers) and grocery store volunteers. Discussion of the community’s grocery store history, challenges the store and community faces, opportunities and action items were all considered. Findings Minneola’s grocery store is “owned” by 167 community members who have purchased shares in the store. There is a Grocery Store Board made up of seven owners that meet monthly in meetings open to the public. Because so much of the community’s time and money is invested in the store, they have identified that it is vitally important that the focus of conversation remain the viability of the grocery store. The board has identified challenges the store still faces and is actively engaging the community and outside resources such as K-State. They recognized many opportunities such as working with the school—they made their first grocery delivery to the school April 22—and recruiting more youth to volunteer. Impact Through this project, we have seen an increase in the store’s capacity and energy efficiency, the development of a new relationship with the hospital and a local restaurant, students invited to volunteer at the store for school credit, and ignited interest in customer loyalty campaigns. Cuba, KS: KRC conducted a number of one-on-one interviews and facilitated six community meetings (three via conference call, three in person). The local grocery store owners, restaurant manager, existing members of the “Cuba Booster Club,” and three community youth were engaged as leaders in coordinating what was called a “Cuba Community Brainstorm” event. The brainstorm took place in April 2013 and involved over 40 local participants – including Economic Development and Extension staff, farmers, seniors and youth. “Commitment postcards” were completed by event participants, expressing their promised actions to benefit the Cuba community, and were mailed out as reminders to participants in early November – after the harvest but before the holidays, as requested by community members. Also per the community’s request, after the “brainstorm” KRC designed and shared a “Project Planning Tool” with the Booster Club – a spreadsheet document meant to aid the community in prioritizing the event-identified needs and ideas and transforming them into action.
Publications
- Type:
Books
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
o Brown, C.F. (2013). Rural Grocery Stores Uses of Communication Channels. M.A. Thesis. Kansas State University
o Drysdale, K & H.H. Peterson. (Nov. 2013). Do Rural Backroads Lead to Competitively Priced Grocery Stores. Poster Presentation. Rural Futures Conference, Lincoln, NE.
o Menefee, D.C. (2013). Mediating Effects of Social Capital and Grocery Stores on Obesity Rates in Rural Food Deserts. M.S. Thesis, Kansas State University.
o Peterson, H.H. (Aug. 2013). Rural Grocery Initiative. Presentation. Risk and Profit Conference. Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS.
o Procter, D.E. (Feb. 2013). Business Strategies For New And Existing Rural Grocery Stores: Roles Of Local Producers, Institutional Buyers, And Community Food Assessment. Poster Presentation. Program Directors Meeting for AERC Funding. Washington, D.C.
o Procter, D.E. (March 2013). Kansas State Universitys Rural Grocery Initiative. Presentation. Ulrich Museum. Wichita, KS.
o Procter, D.E. (Oct. 2013). The Value of Engagement: Building Effective Partnerships. Engagement Scholarship Consortium National Conference. Lubbock, TX.
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Progress 01/01/12 to 12/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Five stores were selected - four in Kansas and one in Nebraska - representing diverse parts of Kansas and diverse business models. The studies help the team to better understand the various business operations of the rural grocery stores and the use of local foods, institutional sales, and value-added enterprises on the economic performance of these rural grocery stores. They also helped to begin the process of facilitating business networking among the case grocery stores, local producers, and institutional buyers. The audio recordings of case study interviews are now being transcribed and analyzed. Dr. Peterson and Melanie Pechanec distributed owner surveys to each of the five rural grocers. The grocery store owner surveys examine the grocers' use of local foods, institutional sales, and value-added enterprises on their store's economic performance. All grocer surveys have been returned and are now being analyzed. AFRI team presented work related to this project at six national and international conferences, presented two national webinars, and conducted one national training on a community food assessment model. AFRI team presented an overview of the project and the Rural Grocery Initiative at the New Partners for Smart Growth (2/12) in San Diego, CA.; at the Healthy Corner Store Symposium (6/12) in San Francisco, CA.; at the Kansas Conference on Poverty (7/12) in Wichita, KS.; and at the Built Environment and Outdoors Summit (10/12) in Manhattan, KS. In October, 2012, AFRI team presented at the National Outreach Scholarship Conference (10/12) presented at the PASCAL conference in Brest, France on universities working with local partners to increase rural food access. In September, 2012, Dr. Procter conducted two national webinars on rural food access for the Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), a national network of community development financial institutions (CDFIs) investing in opportunities that benefit low-income, low-wealth, and other disadvantaged communities across America. Before our Rural Grocery Summit (6/12), we hosted a pre-conference training on a community food assessment and organizing tool called FEAST (Food Education Agriculture Solutions Together). We contracted with the Oregon Food Bank's Sharon Thornberry to lead the training. FEAST was developed at the Oregon Food Bank. Thirty participants, including all of our AFRI project team, attended the training. We assisted with the organization and facilitation of the first community FEAST event in Kansas (Brown County) in September, 2012, and 70 people attended this event. Project products include: Kansas Rural Grocery database; along with case study interview protocol, owner survey, modified FEAST community assessment protocol. Dissemination occurred at all conference presentations, webinars, and FEAST training and community assessment. Together we hosted the 3rd National Rural Grocery Summit which engaged rural grocers and resource providers in important discussions regarding issues and best practices related to food access, in June 2012. Forty-eight panelists and two keynote addresses were delivered at the summit. PARTICIPANTS: Project Team: Dr. David Procter (P.I.; Dir., Center for Engagement and Community Development) has served as the overall coordinator of the project. Procter established the AFRI Advisory Board, convenes the monthly workteam meetings, managing all press regarding the project, and manages all finances of the project. Dr. Procter has also delivered numerous presentations regarding the project and served as primary organizer/convener of the 3rd National Rural Grocery Summit (6/12). Dr. Hikaru Peterson (Co-P.I.; Assoc. Professor, Agriculture Economics) has been responsible for the AFRI surveys and case studies. Dr. Dan Kahl (Co-P.I.; Community Development Specialist, KSRE) is working on the Extension outreach materials. He is working to develop outreach bulletins and toolkits. Dr. Valerie York (Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation) is the project evaluator. She has produced an evaluation report for 2012. Julie Mettenburg (Co-P.I.; Exec. Dir., Kansas Rural Center) replaced Dan Nagengast who resigned in 2012 from the Kansas Rural Center. Julie Mettenburg is working to network local growers with rural grocery store owners. She and the Kansas Rural Center have also organized our first community food assessment. Using an assessment process called FEAST (Food, Education, Agriculture, Solutions, Together) Julie and the Kansas Rural Center organized a community dialogue in northeastern Kansas in September, 2012. Jon Bailey and Kathie Starkweather (Co-P.I.s; Center for Rural Affairs) are working on surveys, FEAST events, and case studies for the state of Nebraska. In 2012, they have worked on a consumer survey and collected case study data. Melanie Pechanec (Graduate Student) has worked on the day-to-day logistics of the AFRI project. She has worked to coordinate schedules of AFRI team members and store owners. She has worked to establish the rural consumer populations to be surveyed. She produces records of all AFRI team meetings and she has helped conduct two case study interviews. AFRI Advisory Board: Dr. Procter in consultation with the AFRI team, created an advisory board including: three grocery store owners, three university faculty, five individuals connected to rural food community NGOs, one local grower, one Extension professional, one economic developer, and one food distributor. This advisory board is providing advice in terms of the focus and direction of the research and educational outreach. It is also providing networking suggestions. Training Provided: AFRI team members and interested citizens attended and participated in a one-day training in our community food assessment model: FEAST. FEAST is a community organizing event that engages citizens in facilitated conversations to develop strategies for improving their local food systems. A total of 30 individuals participated in this training pre-conference to the 2012 Rural Grocery Summit. The training was led by Sharon Thornberry of the Oregon Food Bank, where the assessment model was first created. TARGET AUDIENCES: The primary target audience for this AFRI project is rural grocers, local growers, and small to medium sized farmers. All five case studies are being conducted in communities with less than 2,500 population. Beyond the primary target audience, this project seeks to provide information important to economic development stakeholders, rural community development NGOs, local citizen leaders, and food access stakeholders. This AFRI project is focusing data collection and research in four Kansas communities and one Nebraska community. All four Kansas communities are in "Rural Opportunity Zone" counties. These are counties designated by the Governor and State Department of Commerce as struggling counties - counties with historic loss of population and counties with significant poverty. Three of the four Kansas communities are in rural food deserts. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
The Rural Grocery Summit III offered numerous panel discussions where both grocery owners and experts in small business provided information regarding business development strategies, and strategies for effective rural grocery operation. The Rural Grocery Summit III's concluding session offered participants an opportunity to reflect on summit experiences. Reflectors offered insight on things they most frequently heard during the summit, exciting things they heard, concerns/challenges they heard, and the highest priority recommendations. The Rural Grocery Summit III Feedback Survey results revealed that the summit was successful in generating excitement and connecting participants through a variety of networking events. Participants reported that the best opportunity for networking was the reception at the Flint Hills Discovery Center, during which summit attendees shared their best and worst rural grocery store stories. The Rural Grocery Summit III Feedback Survey also identified characteristics of successful partnerships including: Partnerships that strengthen local community and interaction, Partnerships that are collaborative and exhibit open and effective communication, Partnerships that result in mutually beneficial relationships. The Rural Grocery Summit III Feedback Survey also succeeded in collecting topics of interest to participants for inclusion in the next summit as well as other suggestions for future summits. The most prevalent suggestion was that participants would like to hear more grocery store success and failure stories. This results document is posted on the rural grocery website: www.ruralgrocery.org. The first AFRI Rural Grocery Advisory Committee meeting was held following the Rural Grocery Summit III; this meeting provided committee members with the opportunity to become more familiar with grant objectives and assist in making decisions for next steps in the project. As part of the Rural Grocery Summit III, the AFRI Rural Grocery project team offered FEAST facilitator training to summit participants, with the goal of preparing attendees to conduct their own FEAST events. Thirty (30) participants who were interested in facilitating community-led discussions regarding local food systems attended this FEAST training. The training of these 30 individuals greatly increases the chances for additional facilitated conversations to take place throughout Kansas and Nebraska between grocers, local food producers, and buyers (i.e., community FEAST events). Increased networking was identified as the number one benefit from attending the Rural Grocery Summit by a post-summit survey. Outcomes and impacts from the Brown County, Kansas FEAST community assessment include: The Brown County Community FEAST event was successful at presenting community members with information about initiatives and/or services that are being provided to residents of Brown County to improve access to food, as well as facilitating discussions to identify and brainstorm ways to address issues related to food access in the local area. Informational fliers were designed to be used at farmers' markets about produce and how to select it, store it, prepare it, etc.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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