Rural Food Retail
Program Details
Rural food access is a complex problem. Disinvestment in rural areas over the past several decades has resulted in population losses and the decline of food and retail businesses. Rural food retailers have struggled to stay open as economic conditions have increased the miles people are traveling to work and shifted shopping habits away from community stores and towards regional shopping centers. Rural residents as a result are often miles from the nearest source of fresh, healthy food. As rural food retailers close there are also impacts on the local economy and employment and one less place for residents to interact with their neighbors and friends.
Rural areas possess several important assets, including being populated by the people who are growing, raising, and supplying our food. Sharing best practices and connecting local economic and community development officials, funders, community leaders, and legislators to leaders in the field of rural food access is important for developing solutions.
Communities across the country have attempted to promote rural food access and stop the closure of rural food retail in a variety of innovative ways including:
- Non-profit, local government, and school owned and operated stores
- Worker and consumer cooperatives
- Funding and other incentives for independent operators to open or remain in business
- Utilizing rural retail as a community kitchen and food hub
- Exploring state investment in rural retail distribution
Our Rural Food Retail Project will develop an engaged learning community consisting of local and regional economic development directors, local and regional planning and community development officials, foundation officers, university representatives, rural food retail operators, and other food system and community development professionals. We will host a series of webinars beginning in 2021 exploring topics such as (a) possibilities and challenges of opening and operating cooperative, non-profit, and other alternative ownership model stores, (b) rural food retail funding sources, (c) understanding rural food access as a community service, and (d) state investment and other public policies that can increase the viability of rural food retail. Our goal is to develop an assessment of the rural food retail environment in South Central New York and produce a final report detailing lessons learned and policy opportunities available.
A Fresh Outlook on Rural Food Retail Webinar Series
Business Transitions and Cooperative Ownership: The first webinar in our series was hosted on May 25th from 10:00 am to 11:30 am.
Rural food access is a complex problem. Disinvestment in rural areas over the past several decades resulted in population losses and the decline of food and retail businesses. Rural food retailers have struggled to stay open as economic conditions increased the miles people are traveling to work and shifted shopping habits away from community stores and towards regional shopping centers. Communities across the country are promoting rural food access and stopping the closure of rural food retail in a variety of innovative ways.
The first webinar on Retail Business Transitions and Cooperative Ownership featured speakers examining innovative ways that current business owners can transition their stores to new owners or promote new types of cooperative ownership possibilities. The presentation also featured members of Richfield Springs Community Food Cooperative, a rural food retail cooperative based in Otsego County, New York.
Stuart Reid, Executive Director, Food Co-op Initiative
Dan Sullivan and Amy Wyant, Richfield Springs Community Food Cooperative
Financing Rural Food Retail Business: The second webinar in our series was hosted on Oct 28th from 10:00 am to 11:00 am.
The need for improved rural food access has become exponentially more important in the past few decades. Disinvestment in rural communities has led to a lack of regional food and retail stores. With limited options, community members are forced to travel further distances or settle with dwindling options. Community members and dedicated individuals across the country have begun to address this problem and have come up with innovative ways to promote and maintain rural retail.
The presenters for this part in the series were :
Rev. Dr. Joseph Sellepack, Executive Director, Broome County Council of Churches
Kathleen Clark, Senior Director of Community and Economic Development for Alternatives Federal Credit Union
Tina Barber, Program Officer for Community Foundation for South Central New York
Contact Erin Summerlee, Food and Health Network Director at esummerlee@rhnscny.org or (607)-692-7669 if you have any questions or would like to get involved.