Building a Stronger Rural Food System: From Regional Vision to Taste & Talk Connections

Rural communities across North Dakota are facing a challenge that affects daily life: keeping grocery stores open and ensuring families have access to fresh, affordable, local food. Many small towns have seen their grocery stores struggle, and residents often travel long distances for basic items that are fresh and healthy. The new initiative discussed in this blog is designed to strengthen rural communities, support small businesses, and keep dollars circulating locally.

A major step forward came with a 12.6 million dollar grant commitment from The Bush Foundation. With this support, the Rural Development Finance Corporation (RDFC), staffed by the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives (NDAREC), is leading a multi-year effort to test a regional grocery and local food hub model in north central North Dakota. If successful, it can be replicated across the state and in rural America.

Souris Basin Planning Council (SBPC) is proud to support this project that will reshape how rural communities access food. As a partner in this work, our Economic Recovery Corps Fellow, Felicity Merritt, is coordinating a statewide local foods economic feasibility study. Her work will help guide smart investment in infrastructure, markets, and supply chains, ensuring that decisions are grounded in credible data.

The Regional Grocery and Local Food Hub Initiative

The initiative’s vision is to transform the rural food system from dependence on distant supply chains to empowered local networks. For more than a decade, NDAREC’s rural development center has tracked the decline of small-town grocery stores. The number has fallen from 137 in 2014 to just 90 today.

“Rural stores often struggle to compete with big-box stores and corporate chains. The wholesale price these small-town stores are paying for certain products is more than what you could buy that product for at retail level at one of the big-box stores.” - Ellen Huber, NDAREC Rural Development Director

Shrinking supply chains, long travel distances for groceries, and the fact that most food produced locally leaves the state for processing all contribute to the challenges rural communities face.

What the Project Will Accomplish

• Support the development of a cooperative grocery distribution network.

• Strengthen purchasing power and improve truck routes.

• Establish a food hub to aggregate, store, and distribute local foods and conventional groceries.

• Engage growers and processors of fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy, eggs, grains, and pulse crops.

• Explore partnerships with tribal agriculture initiatives, charitable food organizations, and aligned groups.

• Commission research into grocery pricing and the economic impacts of local foods.

• Create local jobs and economic activity.

  
  

Huber explains the goal clearly: “Ultimately, we envision a rural food system that no longer relies on distant supply chains, but empowers local networks that strengthen communities, support small businesses and keep dollars circulating in rural economies.”

Felicity Merritt: Building the Data Backbone

As an Economic Recovery Corps Fellow hosted by SBPC, Felicity Merritt serves as a connector and convener for North Dakota’s regional food system. The feasibility study she conducts will establish a credible baseline of the state’s food economy. She notes that recent growth in local food production is not reflected in current datasets.

“We have watched North Dakota’s local food economy stretch in ways our current datasets do not capture. Side-gig growers are becoming businesses, producers are adding wash and pack space and cold storage, and teaming up on delivery routes. Yet on paper, much of that progress disappears.”

- Felicity Merritt, Economic Recovery Corps Fellow

The study aims to:

• Create a credible baseline of jobs, sales, and economic multipliers.

• Provide data that communities, businesses, and decision-makers can use to plan and invest.

• Support producers, food entrepreneurs, institutional buyers, tribal food sovereignty advocates, and legislators.

“The Minot-area food hub work is a broad, practical approach, but good infrastructure is only as smart as the data behind it. This study supplies the strategic context.”

This is the first study of its scale in North Dakota. It will help guide future market research, consumer preference studies, and planning for scaled supply to meet real demand.

Taste and Talk: A Dinner Strengthening Local Food Connections

On September 3, the region gathered for Taste and Talk, a farm-to-fork evening designed to bring growers, ranchers, grocers, food-service professionals, and community partners together. The goal was simple: come hungry and leave connected. The early fall weather and peak seasonal produce created the perfect setting to highlight the diversity of food grown and raised in the region.

Guests opened the evening with conversation, beer from Atypical Brewery, and wine from Pointe of View Winery. Chef Jeremy and the team at The Starving Rooster prepared a six-course menu featuring local products. Guided by FARRMS Executive Director Stephanie Blumhagen, each course included stories from growers, ranchers, grocers, and partners.

A Six-Course Story of Local Food

Course 1: Bison Chuck Stew

Bison from Heartland Bison Ranch paired with vegetables from Hilltop Farm.

Course 2: Balsamic Cherry Tomato Salad

Peak-sweet tomatoes from Hilltop Farm with crisp greens.

Course 3: Blackened Sirloin Crostini

Dakota Angus sirloin with blue cheese cream. Ashley Bruner shared the work behind coordinating deliveries of locally grown beef.

Course 4: Korean Tri-Tip with Sticky Rice and Kimchi

Featuring daikon from Beagle Hill Farm, known for sustainable practices.

Course 5: Bison Meatloaf with Bourbon BBQ

Heartland Bison Ranch, Hilltop potatoes, and garlic from Two Toque Acres.

Course 6: Triple Berry Crisp with Pride Dairy Ice Cream

A tribute to North Dakota’s last small-town creamery.

Between courses, participants discussed the emerging vision for the North Central Regional Grocery and Food Hub. That vision involves creating a shared backbone for the region that aggregates products, stores them properly, and distributes both local foods and everyday groceries through coordinated trucking. This helps rural grocers stabilize their shelves, gives producers reliable buyers, and provides families with fresher, more affordable options close to home

Partners included Great Plains Food Bank, the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, Ward County Extension, and North Dakota Farmers Union. Throughout the evening, many guests shared a similar sentiment: “I learned about at least one new local product tonight.” The connections formed were as valuable as the meal itself.

Looking Ahead

This initiative represents a historic investment in rural grocery access and local food infrastructure in North Dakota. It is beneficial for our region, our state, and especially our rural communities. Taste and Talk demonstrated how quickly ideas can move forward when producers, grocers, partners, and community organizations come together with a shared purpose. The next chapter is about carrying that spirit into the everyday work of building a stronger, more connected food system.

As this effort continues, the focus will be on strengthening relationships, expanding markets for local producers, and supporting the small-town grocery stores that anchor rural life. With steady collaboration and thoughtful investment, we can build a system where families across North Dakota have better access to the food grown right here at home.