An official website of the United States government.
To enhance the capacity of the web based database and marketing resource known as Food Industry MarketMaker. A critical element of the long term success of MarketMaker requires equal involvement from all businesses and producers in the food supply chain. <P>The objective of this project is to broaden the participation in the MarketMaker Network by all segments of the food supply chain. This will be accomplished by targeting geographic expansion to regions of the U.S. not currently represented in the partnership and by actively involving businesses beyond the farm gate. This proposal will fund activities that solicit feedback industry wide and augment the existing database in order to grow MarketMaker in a manner that is most relevant to its users. <P>The following activities would be implemented to achieve the intentions of this proposal: <OL> <LI> Build awareness among non-farm food related enterprises. Project investigators and state partners will launch a campaign to educate food processors, wholesalers, distributors and food retailers on the how to use MarketMaker to acquire attribute-specific food products and identify potential supply chain partners. Timeline: July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009. <LI> Solicit Food Industry Feedback. Food industry focus groups will invite supply chain participants to identify the types of information about other food related enterprises that they would find most useful. Timeline: August 1, 2008 through November 1, 2008. <LI> Identify Key Metrics to Determine the Commercial Readiness of Farmers. Industry interviews will also allow investigators to inventory standards of performance that are expected from farmers in such areas as post harvest handling, packaging standards, and food safety standards. Timeline: November 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009. <LI> Design New Business Registration Templates. This information will be integrated into a new online registration template used to create profiles for the individual businesses. The farmer portion of the data base already includes expanded profiles that identify products produced, forms of sale, marketing attributes, and other types of information that helps the user filter out the farmers that best fit their needs. Newly designed templates for registering will allow for the creation of equally rich profiles for food manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, restaurants, and food retailers.</OL> Timeline: July 1, 2008 through December 31, 2008.
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: MarketMaker was initially developed by the University of Illinois to assist and educate livestock farmers on marketing strategies for value-added meat products. The current site has developed into a tool that can benefit everyone in the food supply chain from farmers to processors, distributors, retailers, and the consumer looking for unique food products. The vision of MarketMaker is to be a national information technology platform that enables all food producers, processors, wholesalers, and retailers electronic access to geographically-referenced data. The platform will enhance the opportunity for food and agricultural entrepreneurs to identify and develop new and profitable markets and improve the efficiency and profitability of food systems in the United States and eventually globally. The early efforts focused on developing the technology and engaging state partners that would work with farmers to build robust profiles that could be compiled into a common database. Concurrently, the member land grant institutions delivered programs that oriented food enterprises to MaketMaker and the ways that it could be used to conduct basic market research and locate supply chain partners. A critical element of the long term success of MarketMaker requires equal involvement from all businesses and producers in the food supply chain. The goals for this stage of development will include the continued geographic expansion of MarketMaker but will also build greater participation from businesses beyond the farm gate. This proposal will fund activities that solicit feedback industry wide in order to grow MarketMaker in a manner that is most relevant to its users. This project will evaluate the information needs of consumers and food related enterprises beyond the farm gate and determine the information gaps in the current MarketMaker database. The database will be expanded to allow for broader queries that will give food wholesalers, distributors, food retailers, and consumers relevant information and improved search capabilities. In addition, educational outreach concerning the use of the site will be expanded to target those same businesses and consumers that are the subject of the needs assessment. Currently, farmers have been the primary target for outreach efforts because building a robust database of farmer profiles was considered the highest priority. Reaching audiences beyond the farm gate is an important next step to creating an electronic infrastructure that has equal participation of food buyers and sellers. This is a necessary condition of an effective MarketMaker.<P>APPROACH: <BR> Conduct User Focus Groups. The first step in this project will be to convene a minimum of four focus groups, (e.g. two in the Midwest, one in the Southeast, and one in the Northeast) consisting primarily of food buyers, processors, and distributors to gauge awareness of MarketMaker, determine usability preferences for the web interface, and note suggested changes in content and search functions that should be implemented. Feedback collected from these groups will provide a blueprint for site improvements to make MM more user-friendly and will improve the adoption rate of MarketMaker as a resource. Focus group results will also help set the educational agenda for the project as outreach and education are seen as an important part of the successful development of an electronic market. Extension educators in all the partner states will be invited to share ideas for an enhanced outreach and education process. <BR>Key Informant Interviews. Investigators will identify key food industry decision-makers, with input from the Advisory Board. Interviews will focus on collecting data on 1) food categories and characteristics most important for their business, 2) search capabilities most important to their business, and 3) strategies for training personnel to use MarketMaker in their industry.<BR> Development of Business Profiles. Investigators will again leverage the breadth and depth of the knowledge and experience of the MarketMaker Advisory Board by developing small working groups in each broad area of food-related business as defined by the Standard Industrial Classification System. An outline or template will be designed for each business category that will capture the information that is most useful based on earlier focus groups and key informant interviews. Industry clientele will be involved in a final examination of the data templates for each category. The templates will ultimately be placed on the MarketMaker web site and be used to collect more robust profiles on food enterprises beyond the farm gate. The above steps would allow MarketMarker to be more closely aligned with the broader community that makes up the food industry. Results will insure a direction in the growth and development for MarketMaker that enables it to serve as a common medium for all supply chain participants. The successful implementation of this project will increase the participation of all food supply chain enterprises on the MarketMaker site which will improve the potential of MarketMaker to effect economic transactions. Increased industry involvement can be tracked by web log statistics and by measuring increased numbers of businesses registered on the site. The long term economic impact of MarketMaker is being addressed in a companion proposal developed by Clemson University.