Earlier in the year I attended the 2017 Alltech Ideas conference, where I gained insight to current buying trends and what is to come in respect to decision making at the grocery store. I’ll stop right here and admit, I disagreed with the trend predictions which you may read about here. In short, following the event my eyes were opened and this has become a topic of interest for Keeping Ag Real, as has rural hunger.
The overarching idea that box stores and groceries will become a thing of the past by 
2028, was one I could not accept. I was also skeptical of the theory that mom-and-pop stores would regain fuel. It was the purchase of Whole Foods by internet giant, Amazon which began to show the light.
Near that time, ground was broken in our small town’s struggling economy, confirming the rumor that Dollar General was coming to town. In another moment of confession, I’ll admit that without Dollar General in a neighboring town, my family may have gone hungry on a number of occasions.
I was perplexed as to why they would chose to build one in our town, when there are Dollar General stores ten miles to the west and ten miles to the northeast – both newish stores. I began noticing this was a brick and mortar which clearly lacks of fear of the growing Amazon.
Last week, Dollar General announced they will be expanding by 900 stores in 2018. While this news has in some rural towns created worry, our town, which lost its grocery stores nearly 10 years ago, lost its last restaurant/bar last month, Dollar General has been welcomed with open arms.
I have to wonder if this is the mom-and-pop trend experts were expecting or if it’s an opportunity created by Dollar General recognizing silent epidemics in rural America. That is hunger and lack of sufficient rural communications. According to Feeding America, 2.7 million, rural households face hunger. The cause is a food desert environment without grocery stores and in many cases, lack of transportation to travel to where stores exist. I’m sure several of you are yelling, Amazon Prime it! Unfortunately, with little to no internet access, the desert fills with mirages. Not to mention Amazon Fresh isn’t available in many rural areas.
I’ve only recently become aware of the rural hunger situation in my own community. You may learn more about it by listening to my interview with Gracie Weinzierl of the AgBookClub. In one case, a local food pantry estimates over 30% of the town has used the service at least once. The need is great enough that our school district is opening a food pantry.
Whether experts saw Dollar General coming or not, it seems the rural economy is ahead of the game. Well, at least one rural corporation appears to be ready to play and I’m anxious to watch it unfold.