What's MarketMaker?
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 MarketMaker?
Illinois MarketMaker website contains demographic and business data that the user can query. Details can be summarized on a map to show concentrations of 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 identifies their locations. If you are a grocery store manager looking for the closest producer of organic vegetables, you can query the website 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, and then request a complete demographic profile of those locations.
Make Sure You're Registered
Every Illinois producer should want to be listed and can be by registering through the website. There is no fee to be listed!
Illinois MarketMaker has a current producer database of over 1,000 producers!
MarketMaker workshops will be held at University of Illinois Extension, Kankakee County office, on Wednesday, March 26 at 7:00 p.m. and repeated on Thursday, March 27 at 8:30 a.m. Pre-registration is required by calling Kankakee Extension at (815) 933-8337 by March 25. Computers and staff will be available following the presentations to assist anyone interested in a more in-depth review of the website.
Presenters will be Darlene Knipe Extension Specialist, Marketing and Business Development and Richard Knipe, Animal Systems Specialist, Beef and Ag Entrepreneurship from the Quad Cities Center, East Moline.
Outdoor Experience Opportunity
Have you ever wanted to spend part of your summer taking a weeklong canoe trip? The Kankakee County Soil and Water Conservation District is looking for one junior high school student and one high school student who would like to attend the Land For Learning Outdoor Education Program from July 13 - 18, 2008. This outdoor educational program is based on the philosophies of the renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold. It will provide the students an opportunity to explore the ecology of the Missouri Ozarks, develop a conservation ethic and gain a better understanding of human connections to our natural resources. The Land For Learning Institute uses the teachings of the "Leave No Trace" minimum impact camping to help students learn the traditions and life-skills of fire and shelter building, camp craft and fishing.
The SWCD will pay the registration fee that includes canoes, group gear, food, naturalist guides and transportation from the base camp in Carbondale to the Eleven Point Scenic River in Missouri and the SWCD will provide a stipend to defray the cost of travel to and from Carbondale. All of the Land For Learning staff are certified Wilderness First Responders.
If you are interested in applying or would like more information, please contact Rich Howell at the Kankakee SWCD at 815-937-8940, ext 3 or Richard.Howell@il.nacdnet.net. Additional information can be obtained by checking the Land For Learning website at: www.landforlearning.org. Applications are on the SWCD website at www.kankakeeswcd.org.
