Abstract
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 |
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