Abstract

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MarketScape: Using Membership Functions to Aid Farmer Direct Marketing
Track: Business GIS
Author(s): Carolina Magri, Antoni Magri, Joe Francis, Duncan Hilchey

MarketScape was developed by the Department of Development Sociology and the Food and Agriculture Program at Cornell University. It was originally designed to aid farmers and producer organizations in marketing products directly to consumers in New York State but has since been expanded to serve food security concerns as well. MarketScape maps census tract data and point locations for retail outlets, food processing facilities, hospitals, schools, and other potential customers. In addition, demographic information of consumers interested in locally grown, organic, and other types of produce was obtained from the Empire State Poll, which is conducted annually by the Cornell Research Institute. Membership functions (from fuzzy optimization) were constructed and used to map the degree to which the population in each census tract matches the consumer profiles. The presentation discusses the development and use of these membership functions to enhance decision making of direct marketers and food security managers.

Carolina Magri
Cornell University
201 Maple Ave. C32
Ithaca , NY 14850
US
Phone: 607 2539462
E-mail: com3@cornell.edu

Antoni Magri
Cornell University
Biological and Environmental Eng.
321 Riely Robb Hall
Cornell Univeristy
Ithaca , NY 14853
US
Phone: 607 2539462
E-mail: am283@cornell.edu

Joe Francis
Cornell University
Develpment Sociology
235 Warren Hall
Cornelll University
Ithaca , NY 14853
US
Phone: 607 2551687
E-mail: jdf2@cornell.edu

Duncan Hilchey
Cornell University
Development Sociology
216 Warren Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca , NY 14853
US
Phone: 607 2554413
E-mail: dlh3@cornell.edu