by Christa
Hartsook, Communications Specialist, Ag Marketing Resource Center, Iowa State University, 515-294-4430, hartc@iastate.eduAgDM newsletter article, February 2006
by Christa
Hartsook, Communications Specialist, Ag Marketing Resource Center, Iowa State University, 515-294-4430, hartc@iastate.edu
MarketMaker is an interactive mapping system that finds producers and markets for agricultural products. MarketMaker is a resource for all businesses in the food supply chain. The site can help a grocery store find farm-fresh eggs or a farmer find a place to sell them.
How do I use Market Maker?
The MarketMaker web site contains demographic and business data that the user can query. Details can be summarized on a map to show concentrations or consumer markets and strategic business partners. Providing this kind of information in a map-based format makes much more sense than business lists and statistical tables.
What data can I expect?
For example, a user can request lists of federally inspected packing plants along with a map that identified their locations. If you are a grocery store manager looking for the lcosts producer of organic vegetables, you can query the web site to find names and contact information.
Census data is also a feature of the site. For example, a producer wanting to sell meat to Hispanic consumers can request a map showing the greatest concentration of upper-income Hispanic households, then request a complete demographic of those locations.
Funding for the project was provided by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center and Iowa State University Extension Value Added Agriculture Program.
The Value Added Agricultural Program (VAAP) continues the tradition started by Iowa State University Extension over one hundred years ago by providing unbiased, science-based information to help establish or expand agricultural-related businesses in Iowa. Whether it’s a new start-up or an established business wanting to expand, the VAAP works directly with the owners of the business.
Agriculture in Iowa is undergoing a period of transformation, one marked by changing markets, new products, shifting consumer demand and technological developments. These trends create opportunities to differentiate new agricultural products from traditional commodities. Iowa State University Extension’s Value Added Agriculture Program strives to:
For more information about Market Maker or the ISU Extension Value Added Agriculture Program, contact (515) 294-0588, marketmaker@iastate.edu or http://www.iavaap.org.
The Iowa Market Maker site is: http://ia.marketmaker.uiuc.edu.