MISSISSIPPI STATE, Miss. – Mississippi farms and specialty businesses have a virtual route to potential customers with an interactive computer mapping program on the Internet.
MarketMaker is a tool to link farmers with grocery stores, food processors, specialty outlets, food industry representatives and consumers who want to buy their products. University of Illinois Extension created this software five years ago when specialty beef producers had trouble reaching potential buyers in Chicago.
“Even though there were buyers who wanted their products, it was hard for rural farmers to enter these markets because there was no way to communicate,” said Darlene Knipe, University of Illinois Extension marketing and business development specialist. “Sellers often called us for help, and buyers did, too. We decided to develop a way to help them find each other using the Internet.”
MarketMaker was the result. Representatives working with other food commodities noticed the program’s success and began using the tool. The program soon generated regional interest because it could map food commodity buyers and sellers by location, size, volume, specialty and clientele.
“The geographic information system, or GIS, component of MarketMaker links physical addresses, Web sites, e-mail, phone numbers and other contact information that sellers and buyers need,” said Ken Hood, agricultural economist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service.
The Mississippi Web site went live in November 2007. Other participating states include Iowa, Nebraska, Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Georgia and South Carolina. Colorado, Arkansas and Washington, D.C., will soon join. Users in those states can search information from any state’s MarketMaker Web site.
“University of Illinois Extension has been really helpful in assisting states as they join,” Hood said. “We would recommend that other states join the effort.”
Market information is power in today’s global economy, and MarketMaker is an important tool to help Mississippi producers find opportunities beyond the state’s boundaries, said John Michael Riley, Extension agricultural economist at MSU.
Mississippi MarketMaker is online at http://ms.marketmaker.msstate.edu.
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http://msucares.com/news/print/agnews/an09/090312.html
Contact:
?Ken Hood, (662) 325-2155, hood@agecon@msstate.edu
