As both the first land-grant university and birthplace of the first electronic computer, it is only fitting that Iowa State takes the lead in a program that will unite the two.

The Agriculture Market Resource Center began as a proposal to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in March, said Mary Holz-Clause, industrial specialist with the ISU Extension Service.

The resource center is a team project being carried out by Iowa State, the University of California and Kansas State University.

The three universities will use a $5 million federal grant for research studies and the establishment of a Web site that will serve as a learning resource and an idea-sharing community for crop producers.

Iowa State will head the effort by leading the research, gathering information and creating the Web site.

The ISU Extension Service and the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development both helped develop the idea for the Agriculture Market Resource Center.

“[The USDA was] thinking of new kinds of marketing channels needed to help rural communities,” said Bruce Babcock, director of the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development.

“As soon as we were aware of [their] request, we talked to some other universities,” Holz-Clause said.

The University of California and Kansas State University were chosen because of their agricultural diversity, Babcock said.

He said that with California produce, Kansas wheat and Iowa corn, information about more than 200 different commodities will be made available.

Holz-Clause said she hopes the center’s resources will make farmers more economically successful by helping them make better decisions and also increase American agricultural profits.

Babcock deals with the resource aspect of the Web site, while Holz-Clause works with the second phase, the creation of an online community for farmers.

“There are two ongoing research projects that will be included in the resource part of the Web site,” Babcock said.

“One is examining the experience of companies and retailers in the United Kingdom and France trying to sell products that have their identity preserved through electronic means,” he said.

The electronic means would tell the story of the food, such as where it came from and whether it was grown organically.

The other research project deals with the impact of farmers buying products on the Internet instead of at local stores, he said.

The second phase is the creation of an e-community for farmers.

“We are hoping that farmers will be able to access information more efficiently, and link different groups and farmers,” Holz-Clause said.

Although the work is just beginning on the Web site, she said, it will hopefully be up and running by November.