Webinars & Workshops

Upcoming Webinar: Local Sourcing Innovation in Independent and Locally Owned Groceries

July 24, 2025 at 1:00 PM Central

July 24 Webinar Independent and locally owned grocery stores are a crucial part of the food system, but many lack local food offerings. This is a missed opportunity for both grocers and producers: local food can give grocers a competitive edge, while independent grocery stores can serve as stable marketing outlets for producers.

To increase local food offerings, innovative local sourcing models are needed.

Through a cooperative agreement, the Rural Grocery Initiative at Kansas State University and USDA Agricultural Marketing Services endeavored to answer the following question:

What lessons can be learned from innovative local sourcing models that could help locally owned, independent, and rural groceries become better integrated into local and regional supply chains?

The research team developed five in-depth case studies of businesses and organizations that have pioneered solutions to increase local food access in grocery stores.

Join us for a webinar on July 24 at 1:00 PM Central to explore key findings from this research project.

Past Workshops

2024 Cooperative Stakeholder Convening

2023 Cooperative Stakeholder Convening

Business Transitions: Exploring Solutions through Cooperative Ownership

Rural Grocery Succession Planning Webinar Series

Keeping Groceries Alive Webinar Series

Double Up Food Bucks Informational Webinar

This webinar provides an overview of the Double Up Food Bucks program, which is expanding to grocery stores across Kansas.

Watch this webinar to learn:

How to get started with Double Up Food Bucks
Technical requirements of the program
Ways to strengthen your produce offerings through local producers
And more!

Watch the recording
PowerPoint slides (pdf)
Grocery store application (pdf)

What is Double Up Food Bucks?

Double Up Food Bucks is a nutrition incentive program for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also referred to as food assistance or EBT) shoppers. Double Up Food Bucks is a $1:$1 match on SNAP purchases of fresh fruits and vegetables. The matching incentive can be used by customers to redeem on additional fruits and vegetables. The incentive is tracked in the form of a digital credit, coupon, or in some cases, given as an instant discount (50%) at the time of purchase.

Why participate in this program?

Double Up Food Bucks provides an opportunity to leverage SNAP and matching funds to increase produce sales at your store. Not only that, but the entire community benefits from the program by having greater access to healthy food options.

Double Up Food Bucks is part of a nation-wide effort to make healthy food more accessible to low-income families. The program in Kansas and Missouri is led by the Double Up Heartland Collaborative , a coalition of partners including Mid-America Regional Council, Kansas State Research & Extension, Cultivate Kansas City, West Central Missouri Community Action Agency, and University of Missouri Extension. The collaborative has received additional funding to expand the number of grocery stores participating in the program.

If you have questions about Double Up Food Bucks, please email the Rural Grocery Initiative at rgi@ksu.edu.

K-State Research and Extension is committed to providing equal opportunity for participation in all programs, services and activities.

Program information may be available in languages other than English. Language access requests and reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities, including alternative means for communication (e.g., Braille, large print, audio tape, and American Sign Language), may be requested four weeks prior to the start of the event.

To make a request, contact the Rural Grocery Initiative at 785-532-6868 or rgi@ksu.edu. Requests received less than four week prior to the event will be honored when it is feasible to do so. Language access services, such as interpretation or translation of vital information, will be provided free of charge to limited English proficient individuals upon request.

Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service
K-State Research and Extension is an equal opportunity provider and employer.