Using Market Maker to Connect Virginia Meat Producers and Processors

This fact sheet is a product of the 2014 Fall Kohl Centre Experience. To find out more about this project team and related information, please go to the Kohl Centre at Virginia Tech’s website: https://aaec.vt.edu/extension/kohl-centre.html.

Introduction

Requests to update Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 448-195 (Mainville, Waddle , 2009) have been received by extension agents and specialist (Groover, 2014) to provide a venue to improve communications between the harvest facilities and producers direct marketing meat products. This publication is the most accurate compilation of harvest facilities in Virginia which details their prices and specialty cuts. However, hard copy, single print issues limit the relevance of the prices and facilities’ data, which are quickly outdated and lack the flexibility needed by producers who are sourcing a processing facility that meets their customer needs.

To meet the needs of farmers and processors, the authors investigated a national online database called Market Maker (foodmarketmaker.com). The Market Maker website provides the following benefits:

• Harvest facilities can register their businesses easily, detail their services and prices, and update their information as needed.

• Harvest facilities can define their business based on categories of certifications, types of animals processed, types of cuts and packaging, pricing options, and contacts and media information.

• Harvest facilities and producers can securely access their unique Market Maker profile and edit their information at any time.

• Animal producers may conduct custom searches of the database to pinpoint which slaughtering facilities are available and able to meet their processing requirements.

Market Maker allows for harvest facilities to more effectively advertise their businesses and for producers to find harvesting facilities that best fit their needs. The purpose of this fact sheet is to provide information about MarketMaker to Extension agents, VDACS employees, harvest and packing facilities, and animal producers. Visit this site to learn more about MarketMaker https://foodmarketmaker.com/main/why. After addressing the need for improved avenues of communication between harvest facilities and animal producers, an educational video tutorial was developed by the authors to demonstrate the steps a manager can take to register their meat processing facility on the Market Maker database https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs1xNzPav4k.

Virginia producers and harvesting facilities can register their businesses in MarketMaker now. For more information about MarketMaker in Virginia please contact Dr. Kim Morgan at klmorgan@vt.edu or 540-231-3132.

Groover, Gordon. Personal conversations, August 19, 2014

Jones, Barry. Meat Plant Listings. Message to Montgomery McCarthy. 18 Sept. 2014. E-mail.

Mainville, Denise, and Ahleigh Waddle. An Inventory of Beef Slaughter & Processing Facilities for Virginia Direct Marketers of Beef. Virginia Cooperative Publication 448-195, 2009. <www.ext.vt.edu>.

More opportunities for Kohl Center Teams in response to identified clientele needs. Please visit https://aaec.vt.edu/extension/kohl-centre.html for more information.