About the authors: German (clgerman@udel.edu) is an Extension Specialist in Crops Marketing at the University of Delaware, VanVranken (vanvranken@aesop.rutgers.edu) is an Atlantic County Agricultural Agent at Rutgers University and Klotzbach-Shimomura (shimomura@aesop.rutgers.edu) is a Family and Consumer Sciences Educator at Rutgers University.

Abstract
The term "food system" is used frequently in discussions about nutrition, food health, community economic development and agriculture. The food system involves all processes involved in getting food from the farm gate to the consumer: production, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, marketing, consuming, and food disposal. The Mid Atlantic Regional Food Systems Web Site was designed to provide a forum for assisting the food system with the dissemination of information that can enhance individual players in the system. The web site is now available on an experimental basis to provide producers and consumers with education and user friendly information pertaining to a safe and nutritious local food supply and consumption.

This form of instruction is not logistically feasible with traditional programming methods. Issues facing the industry are complex, and an effective method of addressing them is needed. The intent of this project is to provide better access to university and industry resources in order to maintain the leadership position of the Land Grant system and collaborating institutions in the delivery of research-based and applied information to the citizens of the region.

This chapter outlines the process involved in developing the regional food systems web site as a model infrastructure for interdisciplinary educational efforts. This project is unique in that it builds on the strengths of the collaborating institutional partners within the region. The interaction of many disciplines and issues such as agricultural production, marketing, food safety, environmental issues, and nutritional sciences illustrates the diverse educational needs of stakeholders (site users). Increasing understanding of the interrelationships within the entire food system, including its relationship to the environment and the value of its various components, ultimately contributes to the viability of the regional agricultural industry. This, in turn, will help maintain the quality of life for residents. This paper first describes the food systems web site project and then highlights selected e-business applications of the Mid Atlantic Regional Food Systems Web Site (MARFSWS).

2.  Gather research based information, including case studies on farm retail direct and wholesale marketing, women's health, environmental issues, and food safety, allowing regional extension/research collaborators to update the content easily and quickly.

5.  Develop evaluation mechanisms to allow continual feedback for improvement of the food systems web site and to determine the impact of the project.

Incorporating agriculture, nutrition, food safety, retail/wholesale farm marketing, and environmental issues, the project mission is to illustrate how collaborating institutions can cooperate in developing more efficient WWW-based educational and outreach tools. Stakeholder representatives drive the infrastructure being developed, supporting and directing professionals in content development. They in turn direct a web master/designer to produce the end product for the information consumer. Both consumers and stakeholder review boards provide feedback for continually updating and improving the MARFSWS. The goal of the MARFSWS is to increase accessibility to resources and expertise across institutional boundaries in the Mid-Atlantic region. The site will greatly enhance our ability to meet the range and timeliness of technical needs of professionals in business, government, private, voluntary and non-governmental organizations, students, agricultural producers, and consumers.

The MARFSWS is now available on a trial basis to provide producers and consumers with education and user-friendly information pertaining to safe and nutritious consumption of the local food supply. The term "Food System" is used frequently in discussions about nutrition, food, health, community economic development, and agriculture. Included in the initial launch of the site are five components of the food system. They are:

• Agricultural Direct Marketing
• Producer/Consumer Interface
• Women's/Men's Health and Nutrition
• Environmental Issues

• Food Safety

Agricultural producers and the public are invited to visit the site at www.agri-culturehealth.com . It is important to note that the site is still under construction, and in the development stage. It is currently being made available on an experimental basis. The site is being designed and developed by Principal Investigators utilizing resources from the University of Delaware; Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; The University of Maryland; Sussex County (NJ) Community College; and the USDA's National Agricultural Library. The project received initial funding from the Kellogg Mid Atlantic Consortium, as one aspect of a comprehensive food systems approach being developed by 10 member institutions of higher education and industry representatives to provide information and education to agricultural producers and the general public. This site is being developed for use by:

• Agricultural producers/marketers
• Educators
• Health conscious families
• The general public

Among other features, users of the MARFSWS are able to obtain information on the benefits of consuming vegetables, fruits and whole grains that promote health and potentially reduce the risk of disease while simultaneously identifying local food suppliers via a convenient mapping system.³

Agricultural producers will be able to list their markets and product offerings available to consumers.⁴ Producers will also have the benefit of obtaining information on watershed, other land management and environmental issues.⁵ Overall this site, although in its infancy and still under construction, has the opportunity to become the premier Regional/National Food Systems informational web site. (The Home Page for www. agri-culturehealth.com is shown below).

• An electronic directory of retail farm markets
• A classified ads section for direct retail farm marketers
• Calendar of events for agricultural marketing
• Resources for farm market operators, agricultural producers, and consumers.

The applications are described below.

A further feature of the site allows the user to obtain a listing of all of the retail farm markets that choose to be listed within the region. This is done by clicking onto the Regional/Local Foods icon on the Home Page and then the Farm Market Lists icon.

Another e-business application of the Food Systems Web site is the classified ads section, which allows the farm market operator to list items that are either wanted and/or for sale. The user can either Search Listings and/or Add a Listing to the classifieds.⁷ This feature has not been advertised for use at this point in time. (An Example of a Classifieds Listing). 

Users of the MARFSWS have access to other e-business applications that are useful for commerce. Examples include: obtaining resources and educational information on the following topics: agricultural direct marketing, health⁸, food safety⁹, environmental issues, and a calendar of events where important industry and educational functions can be listed. 

A user of the Women's Health Component stated that user's want good, reliable, informative, interactive websites on health and nutrition. Not websites that merely promoted products.

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