Posts Tagged ‘MarketMaker’
MarketMaker designed to help farmers find markets
AgriNews field editor Martha Blum
The National Food MarketMaker Program is a virtual supply chain to help farmers sell their products at a premium price.
“Our goal is to get enough people to sign up so it becomes a community where trade can take place,” explained Darlene Knipe, University of Illinois marketing and business development specialist.
“I’ve been working on this project for 15 years with my husband, Rich Knipe,” said the specialist, who spoke at the Women in Agriculture event. “MarketMaker is an electronic platform to connect farmers with products to markets.”
The project was started in the Quad Cities.
“Our very first partner was Iowa State in 2005, and ever since we’ve been adding states,” Knipe reported. “This has grown well beyond my wildest dreams. I think we had 12 farmers when we launched.”
Now there are 600,000 business profiles in the system, and MarketMaker has expanded to 20 states.
“Some of them are self-registered, and some are information we purchased,” Knipe noted. “Every farmer in our system is self-registered because there are no yellow pages for farmers.”
It is free to register on MarketMaker. To read more go to http://agrinews-pubs.com/Content/Default/Homepage-Rotating-Story/Article/MarketMaker-designed-to-help-farmers-find-markets/-3/23/6766
MarketMaker 2012 Innovation Awards
Gary Matteson, Farm Credit presents the 2012 Innovation Award to University of Kentucky’s Tim Woods and Kevin Heidermann
Mississippi and Kentucky MarketMaker Teams were honored by Farm Credit with the 2012 National Food MarketMaker Innovation Award. Awards were presented at the National Value Added Agriculture Conference in Traverse City, Michigan on July 25, 2012.
MarketMaker, an online marketing resource that connects food producers with markets, invited all of the participating states to submit proposals highlighting their innovative efforts. Awards were given in two categories: 1) Partnership, and 2) Education, Research and Outreach.
Gary Matteson, Farm Credit, presents 2012 Innovation Award to Ken Hood, Mississippi State University
Four Mississippi organizations united to produce the Partnership Award winning program, “Eat Healthy Mississippi”. Restaurant chefs and owners used MarketMaker to find local producers to supply local foods to be used by the restaurants. The restaurants, in turn, used the local foods to create more healthy recipes for patrons.
Kentucky’s “MarketReady” program won the Education, Research and Outreach Award. MarketReady is a marketing education program targeted to local food producers and suppliers seeking to sell to restaurants, grocery, wholesale, or foodservice buyers. The training integrates MarketMaker as a tool along with best supplier practices across a range of business-to-business functions.
Representing Farm Credit at the awards ceremony was Gary Matteson, Vice President of Young, Beginning, Small Farmer Programs and Outreach. “Farm Credit is proud to recognize the creativity and effectiveness of all entries to the 2012 National Food MarketMaker Innovation Award. It’s impressive to see how resourceful each MarketMaker program is, and understand the potential for these great ideas to be put to good use in other states.”
MarketMaker is hosted and maintained by University of Illinois and is guided by an advisory board made up of representatives from among participating partner states. The National website is located at: www.foodmarketmaker.com. The site currently includes 19 participating states plus Washington, D.C. There is no charge associated with having a business listed on the site or to search the site for information.
Contact:
Dar Knipe
National MarketMaker
1601 52nd Avenue, Suite 17
Moline, IL 61265
(309) 757-9077
Feeding Illinois
Do you have excess produce that is edible and nutritious but unmarketable, too small, slightly blemished or a cancelled order?
Donate Your Product to Help Feed Hungry People in Your Community – In this difficult economy, more and more people are struggling to put food on the table. There are hungry people in every community in this state – 1 in 7 people in Illinois don’t have access to adequate, nutritious food. Our network of food banks can help you get your donations to families in need.
Food donations are tax deductible and not just for C corporations. Under the Food Provision in the Pension Act of 2006 (P.L. 109-280, Section 1202) tax benefits were extended to small businesses, farmers and ranchers.
There’s no risk. All donors are protected from liability under the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donor Act of
1996 and the Illinois Good Samaritan Act.
We will pick up the produce – Within 24 hours of your call, arrangements will be made for pick-up. When you call, your food bank will need to know:
• Product type or types, if mixed load• Quantity (1 pallet minimum), location and how the product is packed
• Approximate amount of waste, as a %, that can be expected
Contact the food bank in your community:
Central Illinois Foodbank, Kristy Gilmore, 2000 E Moffat, Springfield, IL 62791, (217) 522-4022 , kgilmore@centralilfoodbank.org. Counties Served: Adams, Bond, Brown, Cass, Christian, Effingham, Fayette, Greene, Jefferson, Logan, Macon, Macoupin, Marion, Menard, Montgomery, Morgan, Pike, Sangamon, Schuyler, Scott, Shelby
Eastern Illinois Foodbank, Matt Pieper, 2405 North Shore Drive, Urbana, IL 61802,(217) 328-3663,mpieper@eifoodbank.org . Counties Served: Champaign, Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Douglas, Edgar, Ford, Iroquois, Jasper, Moultrie, Piatt, Vermilion
Greater Chicago Food Depository, Gerry Maguire, 4100 W Anne Lurie Place, Chicago, IL 60632, (773) 843-2607, gmaguire@gcfd.org. Counties Served: Cook
Northern Illinois Food Bank, Gary Knuth, 273 Dearborn Ct, Geneva, IL 601341, (630) 443-6910 x140, gknuth@northernilfoodbank.org. Counties Served: Boone, Dekalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson, Will, Winnebago
Peoria Area Food Bank, Jeanette Wennmacher, 721 W McBean, Peoria, IL 61605, (309) 671-3906, foodbank@pcceo.org. Counties Served: DeWitt, Fulton, Livingston, Mason, McLean, Peoria, Tazewell, Woodward
River Bend Foodbank, Tom Laughlin, 309 12th St, Moline, IL 61265, (309) 764-7434, tlaughlin@feedingamerica.org. Counties Served: Bureau, Carroll, Hancock, Henderson, Henry, Jo Davies, Knox, LaSalle, Lee, Marshall, McDonough, Mercer, Putnam, Rock Island, Stark, Warren, Whiteside
St. Louis Area Foodbank, Shannon O’Connor, 70 Corporate Woods Drive, Bridgeton, MO 63044, (314) 227-3738, soconnor@stlfoodbank.org. Counties Served: Calhoun, Clinton, Franklin, Jackson, Jersey, Madison, Monroe, Perry, Randolph, St. Clair, Washington, Williamson
Tri-State Foodbank, Tamela Dane, 801 East Michigan Street, Evansville, IN 47711-5631, (812) 425-0775, admin@tristatefoodbank.org. Counties Served: Alexander, Edwards, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Johnson, Lawrence, Massac, Pope, Pulaski, Richland, Saline, Union, Wabash, Wayne, White
MarketMaker Innovation Awards Go to South Carolina and Ohio
The first recipients of the National Food MarketMaker Innovation Awards are Ohio and South Carolina. The awards, sponsored by Farm Credit, were presented June 27 in Pittsburgh, PA at the National Value Added Agriculture Conference.
MarketMaker, an online marketing resource that connects food producers with markets, invited all of the participating states to submit proposals which highlighted their innovative efforts. Farm Credit Council led a committee that included food and agricultural stakeholder groups to select the winning states. Ohio and South Carolina each received $7,000 from Farm Credit.
“Ohio’s program ‘Get Connected with Ohio MarketMaker’ demonstrated strong food industry partnerships and doubled the number of registered MarketMaker business profiles in Ohio by uniting seven organizations,” said University of Illinois marketing specialist Darlene Knipe. “The creation of ‘Get Connected’ artwork and marketing resources will benefit the entire National MarketMaker network of states.”
The National website is located at: www.foodmarketmaker.com. The site currently includes 16 participating states plus Washington, D.C., with Texas and Alabama in the development stage.
“South Carolina’s program ‘Helping MarketMaker “Float” in U.S. Coastal States and Beyond’ won the award for the unique partnership between Clemson University and the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium Extension program to develop a pilot seafood component,” Knipe said. “It evolved into a national component. This effort diversified MarketMaker product offerings, engaged new producers and consumers in the MarketMaker network, and contributed to the expansion of MarketMaker into several new coastal states.”
Representing Farm credit Council at the awards ceremony was Gary Matteson, vice president of Farm Credit’s Young, Beginning, Small Farmer Programs and Outreach.
“It’s impressive to see how resourceful each MarketMaker program is, and understand the potential for these great ideas to be put to good use in other states,” Matteson said.
MarketMaker is hosted and maintained by University of Illinois Extension and is guided by an advisory board made up of representatives from among participating partner states. There is no charge associated with having a business listed on the site or to search the site for information.
For more information about MarketMaker, contact Darlene Knipe (309-792-2500; dknipe@illinois.edu).