{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Sustaining Rural Grocery Stores","description":"Research shows grocery stores are critical to maintaining vibrant, healthy and thriving communities. Unfortunately, rural grocers are facing a challenging and ever-changing retail landscape that makes it difficult to stay in business. The Rural Grocery Initiative \u2013 housed within K-State Research and Extension \u2013 aims to sustain locally-owned rural grocery stores to enhance community vitality and improve access to healthy foods by identifying and sharing resources that support grocers and rural communities. As part of that effort, the Rural Grocery Initiative hosts the National Rural Grocery Summit. This year\u2019s summit is being held June 20th and 21st in Wichita. RGI program manager, Erica Blair, says there are many rural grocer success stories that\u2019s need to be shared and that\u2019s why this biennial event is so important. Sound Living is a weekly public affairs program addressing issues related to families and consumers. It is hosted by Jeff Wichman. Each episode shares the expertise of K-State specialists in fields such as child nutrition, food safety, adult development and aging, youth development, family resource management, physical fitness and more. Send comments, questions or requests for copies of past programs to ksrenews@ksu.edu. K\u2011State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well\u2011being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K\u2011State campus in Manhattan. ","author_name":"Sound Living","author_url":"http:\/\/soundlivingksu.libsyn.com\/website","html":"