May 6, 2025
Rural Grocery Initiative to co-host 2026 National Rural Grocery Summit in Fargo, North Dakota
Submitted by Rural Grocery Initiative
The Rural Grocery Initiative at Kansas State University is proud to announce that the 2026 National Rural Grocery Summit will be held in Fargo, North Dakota, from May 5–7, 2026, at the Holiday Inn – Fargo. Co-hosted by the University of Minnesota Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (RSDP) and the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives (NDAREC), the biennial event will bring national attention to the innovative efforts underway to support rural grocery stores and improve food access across the country.
The National Rural Grocery Summit has been hosted biennially by the Rural Grocery Initiative at Kansas State University since 2008. Most recently, in June 2024, it was held in Montgomery, AL, which was attended by over 250 people from over 30 states. The summit is the premier networking and resource-sharing venue for rural food access stakeholders, bringing together grocery store owners and managers, community leaders, food suppliers, academic researchers, healthy food access stakeholders, policymakers, and funders. It provides an opportunity to connect, share lessons learned, and innovate around best practices for sustaining locally owned and rural grocery stores.
“The Rural Grocery Initiative is thrilled to partner with organizations that have a long history of supporting rural grocers in their states,” said Rial Carver, program leader of the Rural Grocery Initiative. "In recent years, we have seen the Upper Midwest innovate to support rural groceries and we are thrilled to showcase these efforts on a national scale.”
The Rural Grocery Initiative, housed within K-State Research and Extension, aims to sustain locally-owned rural grocery stores to enhance community vitality and improve access to healthy foods by identifying, developing, and sharing resources that support grocers and rural communities. Rural grocery stores are critical infrastructure in small towns and they face unique challenges. The National Rural Grocery Summit provides a chance to highlight innovative solutions for rural grocery and offer networking opportunities to rural stores.
"The University of Minnesota Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships supports the resilience of rural grocery stores through a variety of programs and have attended many previous rural grocery summits,” said Kathy Draeger, director of the University of Minnesota Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships. “In previous years, we brought busloads of rural grocers to the event in Kansas and it is a fabulous event. It’s networking, connecting, it’s fun, it’s storytelling and I’m so happy to be bringing it back to the region in 2026."
"The North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives has more than a decade of experience working to support rural North Dakota grocery stores and we are thrilled to host this event in our home state,” said Ellen Huber, Rural Development Director for NDAREC.
Opportunities to present will be launched in Summer 2025 and registration will open early 2026.
For more information on the National Rural Grocery Summit, visit ruralgrocery.org/summit.
About the Rural Grocery Initiative: The Rural Grocery Initiative, housed within K-State Research and Extension, aims to sustain locally-owned rural grocery stores to enhance community vitality and improve access to healthy foods by identifying, developing, and sharing resources that support grocers and rural communities. https://www.ruralgrocery.org/
About University of Minnesota Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships: The Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (RSDP) bring together community and University knowledge and resources to drive sustainability in four focus areas: agriculture and food systems, clean energy, natural resources and resilient communities. We support local projects through five regional boards made up of community members and University faculty and staff. We also support multi-region food systems work across Greater Minnesota and provide energy programming through the Clean Energy Resource Teams. https://extension.umn.edu/regional-partnerships
About North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives: The North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives (NDAREC) provides member cooperatives a complete package of quality services in communications, government relations, education, safety training, professional and economic development. https://ndarec.com/