Emu eggs: They may be green, but they are also 10 times the size of chicken eggs, have less bad cholesterol and are slightly higher in nutritional content, according to Westminster emu farmer Diane Brown.
The $13 eggs are also one of more than 60 listings on www.foodtrader.org, an online farmer’s market run by the university’s Environmental Finance Center. The website launched July 15 and complements the center’s www.agtrader.org, which launched in May. In contrast to www.foodtrader.org, www.agtrader.org is geared toward farming equipment, livestock, hay, compost and so on, said Joanne Throwe, associate director for the Environmental Finance Center.
“I was looking at Craigslist one day, and I thought, ‘Why can’t we do this?'” Throwe said.
The online farmer’s market allows state farmers to post descriptions, pictures and asking prices for their fresh foods. Users can browse the site by food category, newest listings or county or create their own listings for desired items.
And similar to Craigslist, pick-up and purchase details are worked out entirely between the buyer and seller, and neither party has to pay to use the site.
With listings such as Brown’s emu eggs cropping up, Throwe said even she is “surprised at what Maryland has to offer.”
On the site, Brown also lists emu oil products (“a pharmaceutical in Australia”) and hopes to add emu meat (“the healthiest meat you can buy”) once a category is created for it.
“It’s a great site; we were really happy to learn about it,” said Brown, who posted her listings Sunday. “We were impressed about how it’s set up.”
The simplicity and user-friendliness will hopefully be the key to the website’s success, Throwe said, and may help urban and suburban users appreciate the state’s rural offerings.
“As we have more urban growth, this is a great way to maintain some of our farms in the state,” she said.
Indeed, the state was in dire need of something along these lines, said Sam White, the agriculture and concentrated animal feeding operation chair of the Sierra Club’s Maryland Chapter.
The model of traditional agriculture is being threatened by rising fuel and energy costs, said White, who runs a 177-acre beef and produce farm in Mount Savage with his wife and her family. With this website and others such as www.localharvest.org, family farmers can depend on a direct marketing scheme to reach customers, he said.
The next step is to spread the word about the website, Throwe said, by reaching out to groups such as the Restaurant Association of Maryland – which has already informed its members about the website – and organizations such as hospitals. For example, an announcement will be sent to hospitals via the sustainable food program run by the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s School of Nursing, Throwe added.
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