Charlotte Narjes and Ansley Fellers break down the tight margins, ownership hurdles and policy pressures facing rural grocery stores, and preview the 2026 Grocery Industry Summit in Kearney. Find this episode on your favorite platform here.
Rural grocery stores keep small towns fed, connected and worth living in. But many run on margins as thin as a penny on the dollar, where one wrong decision can put a store under. On this episode of Nebraska FARMcast, Charlotte Narjes, director of the University of Nebraska Cooperative Development Center, and Ansley Fellers, executive director of the Nebraska Grocery Industry Association, talk through the pressures facing small-town grocers, from competition and razor-thin profits to the challenge of finding a new owner when a store changes hands.
They also explain how cooperative ownership and community partnerships have helped Nebraska towns work to bring back a store after it closed, and why the health of a local grocery store and the surrounding farms and ranches are tied together.
The conversation previews the 2026 Grocery Industry Summit, set for Thursday, Aug. 20, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Younes Conference Center South in Kearney. Hosted by the Nebraska Grocery Industry Association, with the University of Nebraska Cooperative Development Center and the Center for Rural Affairs as partners, the free event brings grocers, wholesalers, vendors and policymakers together to work through what the industry is facing. This year's agenda includes a grocer cohort update, a keynote from Congressman Adrian Smith, and sessions on payment and interchange fees, antitrust and local product sourcing. Registration is open on the Nebraska Grocery Industry Association's website.
