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Gary Matteson, Farm Credit, presents the 2012
Innovation Award to
University of Kentucky’s Tim Woods and Kevin Heidemann
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The Kentucky MarketMaker team was honored by Farm Credit with the 2012
National Food MarketMaker Innovation Award for Education, Research, and
Outreach. Their program, “MarketReady”,
was presented with the award at the National Value Added Agriculture Conference
in Traverse City, MI on June 25, 2012.
MarketReady
is a marketing education program targeted to local food producers and suppliers
seeking to sell to restaurants, grocery, wholesale, or foodservice buyers. The
training integrates MarketMaker as a tool along with best supplier practices
across a range of business-to-business functions.
Christy Eckstein, Executive Director
of the Ohio Grape Industries, Ohio Department of Agriculture, says “The
MarketReady for Wineries program has served and will continue to serve as a
tremendous marketing/education resource for Ohio’s wineries. With less than 25
percent of Ohio wines sold at the retail level, MarketReady for Wineries
provides our wineries the opportunity to learn more about distributing to
various retail outlets, including grocery stores, restaurants and festivals.”
Representing
Farm Credit at the awards ceremony was Gary Matteson, Vice President of Young,
Beginning, Small Farmer Programs and Outreach. “Farm Credit is proud to
recognize the creativity and effectiveness of all entries to the 2012 National
Food MarketMaker Innovation Award. It’s impressive to see how resourceful each
MarketMaker program is, and understand the potential for these great ideas to
be put to good use in other states. Special congratulations to the Kentucky
MarketMaker Team who demonstrate that MarketMaker success is reaching out to
educate and assist farm and fishery businesses to promote their products.”
MarketMaker is an
online marketing resource that connects food producers with markets. It is hosted
and maintained by University of Illinois and is guided by an advisory board
made up of representatives from among participating partner states. The
National website is located at: www.foodmarketmaker.com. The site currently includes 19 participating states plus
Washington, D.C. There is no charge associated with having a business listed on
the site or to search the site for information.
Contact:
Dar
Knipe
National MarketMaker
1601 52nd Avenue, Suite 17
Moline, IL 61265
(309) 757-9077
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