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Regional online farmers market connects farmer and consumer

The CEO and co-founder of an Indiana-based online farmers market says the demand for more direct producer-to-consumer market opportunities led to the creation of MarketWagon.

Nick Carter says farmers can sell food to customers on the MarketWagon website that will then be delivered to their door. He says the goal is to enable producers to thrive in their local and regional markets.

“We’ve had to diversify and get creative and figure out ways to bring value-added products straight to the consumers around us in order to increase farm income and I want to create more and more opportunities for other farms and other producers of food to do the exact same thing,” he says.

Carter says the food is delivered from three regional hubs in Indiana – Indianapolis, Evansville, and La Porte – and they are all different. Customers will find anything from meat, dairy, and eggs to fruits and vegetables, baked goods, coffee and more.

“Each of those hubs is completely separate,” he says. “If you are a resident of Lake County and you were shopping there you would see a completely different set of farms, vendors, and products that are local right to your region.”

MarketWatch currently serves Indiana, but Carter says their plans are to increase their footprint to Ohio, Illinois, and Kentucky next year and more states in the future.

For more information go to www.marketwagon.com.

Audio: Nick Carter, CEO and co-founder of Market Watch