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Hook Up With A Marketplace Matchmaker

Avatar for Paul Rusnak By Paul Rusnak|August 20, 2010

Businesses either hoping to make a bigger splash in their local marketplace and/or expand beyond it, need to learn how to strengthen their connection with potential customers. Given that challenge, especially for Florida fruit and vegetable producers, Florida MarketMaker (http://fl.foodmarketmaker.com), a free-to-all-farmers online food marketing service, recently has been made available. Supported by UF/IFAS and Sustainable UF and officially launched at the Small Farms/Alternative Enterprises Conference on July 31, the direct marketing tool comprises an interactive mapping system that locates businesses and markets of agricultural products in the Sunshine State.

UF/IFAS leaders on the project, Allen Wysocki, associate professor, food and resource economics, and Linda Landrum, regional specialized agent, marketing, and rural development, say Florida MarketMaker helps bridge the gap between producers and consumers. “It is intended to be a friendly forum that allows businesses — from farm-to-fork — to learn about one another,” Landrum says.
According to Wysocki and Landrum, MarketMaker not only links buyers and sellers, but also has searchable databases for market studies by users. “The capability goes beyond just finding a producer,” Wysocki says. “You can search demographics, which allows for more targeted marketing.”

Demography and business data is searchable and summarized on a map to show concentrations of consumer markets and strategic partners. “The Buy & Sell Forum hosts time-sensitive posts, including requests for specific food products, freight-sharing opportunities, and products available for immediate delivery,” Landrum adds.

Bringing Buyers, Sellers Together

The MarketMaker concept is not entirely new. What started out as a nationwide partnership of land grant universities and state departments of agriculture, has matured and grown over several years. The National MarketMaker site (http://national.marketmaker.uiuc.edu), originally created in 2004, was developed and is still maintained by members of the University of Illinois Extension. The national portal contains content supplied through input of participating states. Wysocki says, with more than a dozen states already hosting their own live individual MarketMaker sites, Florida’s recent addition to the fold is not only a good fit, but also timely given the strong demand for buying local and the expanding population of locavores. “You have firms like Walmart saying publicly that they want to buy more local,” he says. “With that kind of demand from buyers, there is no one good source to spot local producers. They’re hard to find — especially the smaller ones.”

Taking Advantage

 
 

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Paul Rusnak is the Senior Multimedia Specialist for Meister Media Worldwide's Specialty Crops Division, which consists of American Vegetable Grower, American Fruit Grower, and Greenhouse Grower, all Meister Media brands. He is based in Northeast Florida. See all author stories here.