Help Indiana Create a Data Base for Local Food and Producers

The Purdue New Ventures Team, Indiana Department of Agriculture, Indiana Cooperative Development Center, and the USDA-Rural Development are in the process of creating a searchable data base for Indiana local food producers and consumers. Indiana MarketMaker is a free interactive mapping system that will locate producers of and businesses supplying agricultural products in Indiana, providing an important, convenient link between producers and consumers.

The MarketMaker site will make finding local food in Indiana easier for consumers and help the producers spread the word about their products. The site will facilitate linkages in several ways. For example, chefs can use it to find local producers, producers and product developers can find ingredients and resources for growing their business as well as find new market opportunities for their products, and consumers can find local foods quickly. To see how this data base is working in other states, visit the national MarketMaker site.

The site developers are now in the process of populating the data base with information from producers and they need your help. If you are a producer, please go to Indiana MarketMaker and complete the on line registration to get your business listed. If you are a consumer, send this information to your favorite producers,farm and farmers market managers. And please pass this information along to other bloggers and local media representatives you know so they can help encourage producers to register.

The GOING LOCAL site will have a link to the Indiana MarketMaker once it is "officially" up and running. Looks like finding great local food just got alot easier in Indiana!

Photo: Yellow zucchini in the Dirtpatch garden