Bill would help rural grocery stores in North Dakota

Many North Dakotans live in “food deserts,” and Senate Bill 2228 seeks to help curb this problem by giving one-time sustainability grants to preserve or reopen rural grocery stores. 

Food deserts are defined as areas where a resident must travel 10 or more miles for fresh or perishable foods.

Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, said the legislation is similar to a bill the Legislature approved two years ago as a rural grocery assistance pilot program. It needs to continue, she said.

“In small towns across the state, losing a grocery store doesn’t just mean driving a little further for food. It means losing a gathering place, an anchor business and a major economic driver,” said Laura Lacher, director of the Economic Development Association of North Dakota.

“Rural grocery stores are the backbone of small communities in providing access to fresh and nutritious food and supporting local economies,” said Parrell Grossman, a spokesman for the North Dakota Soybean Growers Association. When communities have grocery stores it allows people to remain in the communities they love, he said. 

‘The lifeblood of the community’: States invest to save rural grocery stores

Ellen Huber, rural development director of the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives, said the most common challenge the association faces is keeping grocery stores open. 

“Since 2014, North Dakota has lost 47 rural grocery stores, leaving only 90. This trend, coupled with a shrinking grocery supply puts many communities at risk of becoming food deserts,” Huber said. “Local stores are vital lifelines.”

When rural grocery stores close, residents must travel to a larger city for food. Many North Dakota communities have raised funds to keep their local grocery store open, and gas stations have begun selling produce and other food items.

The community of Casselton has been working with grocers for years to try to build a grocery store. Casselton is about 23 miles west of Fargo on Interstate 94, and many developers believe it is too close to Fargo to justify a local store. 

“In response to Casselton having no grocery store, local gas stations have expanded their food section, but at a higher cost than a grocery store could offer,” said Angela Kolden, editor of the Cass County Reporter. 

After the only grocery store in Michigan closed in 2008, the Red River Regional Council, which is based in Grafton and serves northeastern North Dakota, developed a private-public partnership business model that allowed the local Job Development Authority to buy the store and lease it to a private owner. Using community funds and grants, the organization replaced coolers and other equipment. The council continues to repeat this business model in other small towns, said Dawn Mandt, its executive director. 

The council received two grants from the pilot program the Legislature approved two years ago, one of which was used to support the only grocery store in Crystal. It closed in 2023, but a local booster club was able to use local fundraising and grant money to buy the store and keep it open, Mandt said.

In south-central North Dakota, Beverly Voller, the volunteer president of the Hazelton Development Corp., said more than 25% of the city’s population is at least 65 years old. Many elderly residents do not want to drive to buy groceries or struggle with traveling and walking around larger stores, she said. 

“But this issue is not unique to Hazelton — it affects every small community in North Dakota,” Voller said. 

The legislation puts the state Department of Commerce in charge of the grant program and says it has to support existing rural grocery stores before awarding grants to reopen a store in a community without one. The money may not be used for food processing or offsite preparation for a rural grocery store.

A Senate vote on the grant legislation is pending.

The North Dakota Newspaper Association hires an intern and mentor each legislative session to supplement coverage for North Dakota newspapers, through a grant from the NDNA Education Foundation.