Small, specialized agricultural producers and marketers in New York state now can find one another with just a few clicks, thanks to an interactive Web service spearheaded by Cornell Cooperative Extension/New York City (CCE/NYC).

New York MarketMaker http://nymarketmaker.cornell.edu/ is part of a growing national network of Web sites hosted by state land-grant universities to provide access to databases of growers, wineries, food processors, wholesalers and retailers, farmers' markets and restaurants across the state, as well as demographic data from the U.S. census.

Users can search a variety of categories, then see the results on a map, statewide or by county. Clicking on blips on the map will bring up detail about the farms or businesses found.

Take, for example, a farmer growing jalapeno peppers who knows the product has a largely Hispanic market. Using MarketMaker, the farmer can identify neighborhoods where the census reports high concentrations of Hispanics, then identify and locate small retailers in those neighborhoods and contact them directly. At the other end, small grocers might use the system to locate producers of products requested by customers. Such schools as Cornell that are committed to buying local produce for their dining halls can use the site to find more local sources.

In addition to scanning databases, users can post requests or offer products for sale in a "Buy-Sell Forum."

"The idea behind MarketMaker is to level the playing field by providing information small operators don't usually have access to," said John Nettleton, senior extension associate at CCE/NYC. Large companies already have or can purchase this market intelligence, he explained.

New York's agricultural terrain, Nettleton noted, is more "fine-grained" than many other states, with many farms of 100 to 5,000 acres producing specialty products. "We don't have the 8,000- to 16,000-acre farms typical of the Midwest," he said.

The first MarketMaker site was launched over two years ago by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the land-grant university of Illinois. Since then sites have been added in Iowa, Nebraska and Kentucky, with startups planned in Indiana, Michigan, Georgia and Mississippi, and others on the way. The New York site went live July 20. Organizers hope to bring more states online so that businesses near state borders will be able to search across state lines.

The New York site is populated with information from a variety of databases, including Pride of New York, the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York and regional growers organizations, along with databases of state-inspected food processors and various retail associations. Individual farms and businesses can sign on and add or update their own profiles.

The site went online with about 2,000 farms and businesses registered, but the New York Farm Bureau lists 35,000 members. Outreach to trade associations and networks of buyers is encouraging more businesses to sign up. The operation is centered in New York City, Nettleton noted, because many trade associations are based there and have annual meetings and trade shows there.

The launch of the New York site has been sponsored by CCE/NYC with strong support from the Cornell Small Farms Program. Additional sponsors are still needed to cover startup costs, Nettleton said, adding that they would gain exposure from a new national MarketMaker portal hosted by the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center at Iowa State University, which currently receives over 3.5 million visits each month.