FOR SALE: JUST ABOUT ANYTHING.

Crops, livestock and food products for sale via Web sites are limited only by the imagination. From pygmy goats to popcorn to petunias, farmers and the agrimarketers that manage sites that farmers use for commerce are finding that posting products on the Internet may be a boon for business.

Business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) sites can cut costs, add value, streamline distribution channels, expand customer bases, track consumer needs through data mining and foster business/ client relationships, says Sparks Companies' Bechdol.

Similar thoughts are reflected by Dr. Richard Foster in the Kellogg Foundation's, "The Impact of E-Commerce on Agriculture, Issues for 21st Century Food Systems." In the paper he notes:

      `Commodity producers have long been price takers, given the nature of
   competition in agriculture. But Gary Carlson, president and chief executive
   officer, Rooster.com, Bloomington, Minn., says, `Several companies supply
   trait-identified seeds for producers to grow specialty crops under
   contract. More and more companies are looking to match up those specialty
   crops for use within the food chain. The Internet may permit a larger
   cross-section of producers to participate in these growing markets.'

      Carlson also anticipates e-commerce will ultimately help farmers connect
   to markets where they can use the tools and have a one-stop shop where
   producers, dealers and manufacturers can come together to do business.
   Farmers will have access to local, regional and national markets that will
   increase marketing options with more revenue generation possibilities. `The
   result will be a closer-knit community, better informed and more
   competitive than ever before,' he says.

      `Farmers will discover that it is not just the product they raise that
   has value, but also the process used to grow the crop,' he explains.
   `Producers who integrate the Internet into their business strategy may gain
   a competitive advantage over those that do not.'

      Farmer use of the Internet for product sales to end users and consumers
   is projected to continue to grow. Carlson expects e-commerce to play more
   of a role in management decisions, as growers experiment with using the
   Internet for price discovery.

      Such discovery will likely include greater competition. `The Internet is
   analogous to the introduction of the railroad or the telephone. These
   technologies cut time and distance, facilitating delivery of products and
   services far beyond the area of production or physical presence of the
   service provider,' says Beurskens.

      Beurskens believes any commodity or food product is suitable for
   e-commerce and buyers and sellers can transact on an attribute basis rather
   than just price and commodity.

      `Wheat from a miller's perspective is valued based on baking
   characteristics, while producers are typically rewarded strictly on yield.
   The current commodity system of price discovery and trading fails to take
   into account millers' needs for improving and expanding baking
   characteristics. Millers can post wheat attribute requirements ideally
   suited for their baking customers, and it enables producers and grain
   warehouses to post the attribute level wheat quality they possess. Supply
   and demand revelation expands opportunities for the entire food chain,'
   Beurskens says.

      Scott Deeter, chief executive officer, CyberCrop.com, Fort Collins,
   Colo., says, `Products that are geographically dispersed and fragmented
   will be effectively marketed through e-commerce, as will transactions that
   are intensely paper- or phone-based. There is little room to capture value
   in transactions where products are geographically dense, where products are
   already consolidated and when transaction size is large.'

      That philosophy may lend itself well to small producers. One industry
   source notes, `With cost and entrance into e-commerce so large and so
   complex, it is hopeless for a small cooperative to create its own site to
   market value-added, identity-preserved or organic commodities and foods.
   But such groups can successfully sell through one of the existing portals.'

      Other groups are making a successful go at independent Web-based
   marketing. Food products, particularly those that service niche markets,
   may be well suited to Internet sales. According to a May 18, 2000, article
   at Foodonline.com, `Online grocery spending will grow from approximately
   $200 million in 1999 to more than $8.8 billion by 2004, according to new
   research from IDC, a Framingham, Mass., research firm. This huge growth
   will occur despite potential pitfalls along the way.'

      One of the first food product areas likely to expand sales on the
   Internet is the organic market, which has been growing at more than 20
   percent annually for a decade and is one of the fastest-growing segments in
   the food business, according to Ann Woods, president, Organic Alliance, St.
   Paul, Minn. Sales of organic foods and beverages could top $6.6 billion
   this year.

      `For niche market food product sellers to be successful and promote
   their products on the Internet, they will have to enlist help of venture
   capitalists and e-commerce experts completely outside the realm of
   sustainable and organic agriculture,' says Woods, adding that `dot-coms'
   will continue to have a positive influence on food product sales because
   consumers will take time to read information on Web sites that they will
   not read from labels while they are in the supermarket. She believes
   consumers will become better educated on these products.

      `Consumers can get definitions of products and view farmer profiles and
   company information from Web sites. They may not take the time to do that
   in the store,' she explains. `This technology will be supportive of the
   types of products we sell, whether consumers buy them for home delivery or
   buy them as better-informed consumers from supermarkets.'

Other e-commerce companies are experimenting with marketing No. 2 yellow corn and other bulk commodities to see how those product sales can also benefit from Internet transactions. CyberCrop.com, for example, offers the Grain Exchange, which is an electronic way to bring buyers and sellers together with the purpose of increasing productivity and profitability.

Essentially, farmers interested in marketing grain through the exchange can register for a trading password and then use the secure Web site 24 hours a day to look for a palatable sales opportunity. Farmers can view the real-time local cash bids of participating merchandisers in their area and beyond and accept an offer through a legally binding contract.

CyberCrop.com generates revenue through transaction costs paid by registered buyers, explains Kari Flatlie, assistant manager of product marketing, Grain Exchange. "Buyers receive improved profitability from increased volume and reduced transaction costs, our automated, streamlined bidding process and secure electronic contracts," she says. "Merchandisers get immediate access to new customers, access to more bushels directly from the producer and easy entry into e-commerce."

"The Internet will be an extremely powerful tool to introduce new technologies and product lines, and it will become a primary mechanism to introduce products and services related to value-added and identity preservation programs," says DirectAg.com's Baker.