New Web site 'a Craig's List for agriculture products'

Special to KAN

The University of Louisville’s Environmental Finance Center (EFC) connects consumers and nonprofit agencies with local farmers and others who produce agriculture goods. Information about available agriculture products in Kentucky and adjacent counties in border states is at www.kyfoodtrader.org, said Carol Norton, a research coordinator who is the site’s administrator.

“It’s kind of like a Craig’s List for agriculture products,” she said, explaining that farmers can post their available products, and consumers and nonprofits can post the type of product they want to find.

The site allows consumers and nonprofits to search not only by product, but also by location to find the most convenient sources.

UofL’s EFC is one of nine regional Environmental Protection Agency-funded centers designed to provide state and local officials and small businesses with advisory services; education, publications, and training; technical assistance; and analyses on financing alternatives for environmental projects.

Kytrader.org is based on a similar site the EFC at the University of Maryland developed last year to allow agriculture businesses to find users of such waste as manure or excess hay so its disposal would not harm the watershed. Its success prompted its expansion to agriculture products.

The University of Maryland, UofL and Syracuse University are the only three EFCs to have such a site.