CAES Newswire

 College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences UGA Cooperative Extension
Menu
Published on 11/08/07

Web site connects Georgia food products, markets

By Stephanie Schupska
University of Georgia

If you have Georgia on your mind and need a taste of it in your belly, a new Web site from the University of Georgia can help with your search.

The UGA Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development has rolled out Georgia MarketMaker (www.marketmaker.uga.edu). The interactive Web site has one of the most extensive searchable collections of food-industry data in the country.

"Our goal is to help producers sell their products and help provide markets for Georgia's farmers," said Kent Wolfe, a UGA Cooperative Extension marketing and finance specialist.

Restaurants in cities like to serve locally grown meats, vegetables, fruits and beverages. "MarketMaker allows producers to sell directly to consumers and make more money," he said. "We'd like to see it evolve into a locally-grown-food network."

It's a network that's already growing fast.

The University of Illinois Extension created the original program in 2004. Wolfe and Sharon Kane, a CAED food-business development specialist, helped bring MarketMaker to Georgia. Other states in the growing national system are Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky and New York. Set to come online soon are Michigan, Indiana and Mississippi.

"Georgia businesses and producers can also search those states for produce and other farm products and vice versa," Kane said.

Georgia's system, a searchable source for all businesses in the food supply chain, lists over 32,000 food businesses, from grain growers to grocery chains.

It works like this: Say you're looking for locally produced butter for your biscuits. A quick search of MarketMaker could turn up Sparkman's Cream Valley in Moultrie, Ga.

Or if your restaurant needs new lunch items, a few keystrokes will find goat cheese from Thornberry Village Homestead in Jasper, blackberry-muscadine wine from Georgia Wines in Ringgold or organic popcorn from Revival Gardens Organic Produce in Dahlonega.

The site is funded by the OneGeorgia Authority, UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, UGA Cooperative Extension and CAED.

"It's a unique resource because it not only contains a comprehensive database but has demographic information and mapping capabilities," Kane said.

For more information about MarketMaker, call (706) 542-1861, e-mail gamarket@uga.edu or visit www.marketmaker.uga.edu.

Stephanie Schupska is the communications coordinator with the University of Georgia Honors College.

Experts/Sources:
Kent Wolfe
Sharon P Kane
The holiday season can be a time of anticipation and joy, but balancing multiple commitments and personalities across families and friends can be a source of stress for hosts and visitors alike. Like preparing parts of the meal ahead of time to spend more of the holiday with guests, taking time ahead of the day to set expectations can go a long way to ensuring enjoyable gatherings, said Ted Futris, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension specialist and professor of human development and family science in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. CAES News
Manage holiday stress with kindness, boundaries 11/21/24 Maria M. Lameiras
The holiday season can be a time of anticipation and joy, but balancing multiple commitments and personalities across families and friends can be a source of stress for hosts and visitors alike. Much like preparing parts of the meal ahead of time allows you to spend more of the holiday with guests, setting expectations ahead of the celebration can go a long way to ensuring enjoyable gatherings, said Ted Futris, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension specialist and professor of human development and family science.
Conner Hall CAES News
CAES welcomes 2024 cohort of Rural Scholars 11/20/24 Maria M. Lameiras
The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences welcomed its fourth cohort of students chosen for the CAES Rural Scholars Program this fall just weeks after celebrating the program's first graduation. Georgia Orman, one of four inaugural Rural Scholars in CAES, graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education. The new scholars for 2024, all from Georgia, are Ela Ash of Ocilla, Lauren E. Coley of Cochran, Amelia Housley of Canon, and London O’Steen of Ambrose.
Women play a vital role in rural American farming, but much of that work is "invisible," like raising children or household chores, according to a new UGA study. (Getty Images) CAES News
The women and stress behind rural farming in America 11/19/24 Leigh Hataway
Recent research from the University of Georgia suggests the unique stresses from farm life may be taking a toll on one of the pillars of the families that make your dinners possible: the women who keep farming families running. “If we don’t control our food sources, we don’t control our health and safety,” said Anna Scheyett, lead author of the study and a professor in UGA’s School of Social Work. “It’s a matter of national security that farmers survive in the United States. And one of the big factors in helping farms survive is women.”
Mergoum at Creature Comforts CAES News
That's the spirit! 11/18/24 Maria M. Lameiras, Claire Sanders Kinnard
Wheat breeders spend years meticulously crossing varieties to coax the best traits out of each species, carefully propagating plant varieties that are healthier, heartier and better suited for the environments where they are grown. Professional brewmasters are equally painstaking when choosing the components that will give their beers a specific flavor profile.
Contest-winning concept becomes viable business for alumnus who developed solar-powered, self-propelled chicken coop as a student. CAES News
Poultry in motion 11/14/24 Sean Montgomery
Chris Ayers emerged from his orange and black rough-terrain vehicle with an ear-to-ear grin. “This is Chiktopia,” he said, sweeping his arm wide to indicate the back half of a 3,600-square-foot warehouse on his family’s farm in Ball Ground, Georgia. “This is where I manufacture and assemble the chicken coops. Everything is done entirely from over here.”
UGA Grand Farm Site Plan web CAES News
UGA Grand Farm wins stage two of 2024 Growth Accelerator Fund competition 11/13/24 Jordan Powers
Startups in the agricultural technology sector face significant barriers on the path to establishment, including access to training and capital. These barriers are heightened for underrepresented entrepreneurs seeking to start new companies. The University of Georgia Grand Farm, part of a historic partnership between the University of Georgia and Fargo, North Dakota-based Grand Farm, aims to change that.