The LSU AgCenter is developing a new way for Louisiana farmers and fishermen to do business via the Internet with a Web site called the Louisiana MarketMaker.The site, expected to launch in the spring, will be an “Internet platform for buyers and sellers to find each other,” said Paul Coreil, vice chancellor of the AgCenter’s extension service.MarketMaker will allow local agriculture and seafood industry producers to connect with potential buyers across the nation, expanding the possibilities for sales.Coreil said the site will be an online translation of farmers markets, where farmers sell products directly to consumers.”I call it an online farmers market,” Coreil said. “Farmers markets are wonderful and do a great job, but in many cases there are only one or two vendors there for a certain product. This gives you a much larger audience.”Louisiana producers will be able to post their product information on the site for free. Consumers can then locate and contact them to buy products directly.”If you have fresh shrimp, strawberries or grass-fed beef, you will be able to put your business information and products on the Web,” Coreil said. “We think it will increase sales and hopefully increase profitability.”The site will be beneficial financially for producers by cutting out middleman distributors and the costs that come with them, said Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain in an Oct. 26 AgCenter news release.”We want to help simplify the direct marketing concept for our producers,” Strain said. “The consumer gets the freshest quality product at a fair price directly from the producer, while the farmer receives a larger percentage of the consumers’ dollars because the middleman function has been eliminated.”Consumers also benefit by being able to find high-quality products more easily that come from Louisiana and help the local economy, Coreil said.”Many of us support local farmers and like to know the purchases we’re making benefit the state,” he said.The MarketMaker site is part of a project that began at the University of Illinois and has expanded to 14 other states, including Louisiana.The AgCenter will purchase software and data from the University of Illinois to help create the site. The AgCenter will buy the package for $53,000, a price tag Coreil said is expensive, but will be covered with a grant from the Louisiana Recovery Foundation to assist shrimpers.”We will push [the grant] in the coastal area where shrimpers are struggling with low prices,” Coreil said.Coreil said the site will need to be populated for it to be successful. To achieve that, the AgCenter will hold workshops across the state to get producers interested.- – – -Contact Ryan Buxton at [email protected]