Hometown grocery stores are a dying breed, and the problem could be slowly killing rural America.  That, according to research by Kansas State University, which also notes that folks who live in these towns with populations less than 2500 have some of the highest rates of obesity and diabetes in the nation.  How do the lack of grocery stores and obesity go hand in hand?

David Procter, Director, Center of Engagement and Community Development (CECD) at K State tells Fox News, “If people do not have access to fresh, healthy nutritious foods, they end up buying their groceries, what limited groceries there might be, at places like convenience stores, gas stations.  What that means is, they’re buying more processed food, more high sodium food, more food with transfats.”  Dr. Procter, whose CECD has launched the Rural Grocery Initiative, an outreach to these types of businesses, also says these types of shopping habits lead to all kinds of increased health related diseases.

Jeff Hertel of Victoria, Kansas says his town is in dire need for its grocery store to re-open. “You get off working and stop at a store, you can pick up your meat and your groceries and go home and cook a nutritious meal, versus stopping and you know, every night, and picking up fast food .”

But the impact is often compacted by the economic drain that occurs when stores close.  Hertel says, “I had a guy who sells me advertising and uh, him and his wife and kids, they talked about moving to town, but so, they come to Victoria and they drove around and his wife didn’t see a grocery store and she says, ‘nope’ that’s not gonna happen.”

Dr. Procter adds, that not only are these small populations dependent on the local grocer for food, but jobs.  “There’s a community sustainability issue and that is, if enough of these rural businesses go under, pretty soon there’s not a town there to save anymore,” Dr Procter says.

According to K State, 82 rural grocery stores, in Kansas, have closed in the past three years.  The problem goes far beyond the Wheat State.  Iowa’s is facing an almost identical situation.

And in Colorado, the loss of a town’s only grocery store became downright dangerous. The town of Walsh, population 637, saved itself from extinction by opening a community owned grocery store.  The idea came after a record setting winter in 2006, in which cattle starved and residents had no access to food.  The town’s only grocery store had closed and the closest store was 30 miles away.  The problem was it was not accessible because the highways were shut down by the snow.

Walsh isn’t the only locale that took matters into its own hands. Gove, Kansas, lost its store for a few years, before the residents collected donations to build what is now a community owned place.  It also serves as a distribution center for towns in need of a lifeline.  That’s because most distributors are regional and require minimum orders that are often too big for small town stores.  So the store in Gove has the food and supplies that fill grocer’s shelves in neighboring communities, sent to their store.  It’s a lifeline some towns would dwindle away without.  Val Branham is the manager of Gove Community Improvement Association Grocery in Gove. “We’re all helping each other, well, we’re trying, let’s just say that,” says Branham.

If you would like more information on the Rural Grocer Initiative: www.ruralgrocery.org

Check out some slideshow stills from our visit, shot by photographer Lloyd Gottschalk.