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Virginia Market Maker

The Market Maker portal is the largest and most in-depth national database for the agricultural industry. The portal provides a simple search tool to connect buyers, farmers/ranchers, fisheries, farmers markets, processors/packers, wineries, restaurants and more. With the generous support of our partners and stakeholders, VA Market Maker is available at NO COST to Virginia producers, processors and consumers.

Below is a list of “Frequently Asked Questions.” If you have a question regarding Virginia Market Maker not answered on this website please contact Dr. Kim Morgan at klmorgan@vt.edu

A business can login to their account and see how many have viewed both their business profile and any ads they have submitted. 

Virginia Market Maker is already pre-loaded with public facilities, such as meat processing facilities, and other businesses located throughout the state. However, these listings contain just the bare minimum information about each business. The owner-operators of these businesses are strongly encouraged to set up a Virginia Market Maker account and provide key details about their services, and any social media or association connections, to help potential customers find them based on advanced search criteria.

Yes! Consumers do not need to set up a profile to search Virginia Market Maker, they can simply type in their search criteria based on location, food or food product type, or any other specific characteristics about the agribusinesses, such as market outlets or seasonal offerings.

As with raising awareness across the agribusiness community, we will rely on promotional and marketing support from Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech, Virginia State University,  Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Farm Credit, and Virginia Farm Bureau to help us get this information out through their own promotional materials, workshops, conferences, and client events.

No. The information can only be used by the state principles for University and Extension related research following the rules of the memorandum of understanding. 

The Market Search feature queries census data in the following areas: Education, Foreign Born, Household Type, Income, Income by Race, and Race. You can find Market Search by clicking on SEARCH or by doing a quick search. Once you click on search, click on the Market Research tool.


At the top of the map that appears, select the Market Type you want and other specific selections that go along with it. Also select if you are searching by County or state. When your selections are complete, click on Map It. A map will appear showing you the results of your query. Note which color has the largest number of people that matches your request. To zoom in closer, you can use the hand tool and mouse wheel or you can click on the box zoom tool and draw a box around the area you want. To select specific census tracts, click on the census tract tool and drag over the census tracts you want to select. You can also use the control key while clicking on desired census tracts.


Census data is calculated to the right of the map. The default census data before any selection is the current states census data. Once you select census tracts, the data calculates those chosen. You can print the census data by clicking Print Census Profile.

If you would like to know more about the methods used to create the consumer expenditure data, visit http://www.esri.com/~/media/Files/Pdfs/library/whitepapers/pdfs/consumer-expenditure-methodology-2011.pdf

Many retail locations are pre-loaded with data from Sales Genie. That includes all food industry data including wholesalers, eating and drinking places, food retailers and processors. 

The primary audience for Virginia Market Maker includes: Virginia’s growers, producer groups, processors, and managers of farmers markets, food hubs, cooperatives, retailers and distributors.

VCE educator objectives specific to VA Market Maker are:

  1. To demonstrate  market development avenues provided by a VA Market Maker portal
  2. To connect small to midsize growers with local communities and regional customers using technology
  3. To demonstrate how to register their agribusiness operations on VA Market Maker
  4. To demonstrate how to search for suppliers, distributors and customers using the market research features of the VA Market Maker portal
  5. To demonstrate ways to seek and provide employment for clientele looking to hire individuals specifically interested in agricultural-related jobs.
  6. To communicate current information technology needs of Virginia’s producers and consumers who are involved with regional food systems  to the Market Maker managers