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Abstract
Despite the touted potential of e-commerce to improve agriculture profits, the literature on
effectiveness of e-commerce is very limited. This paper assesses the economic impact of an
electronic trade platform (i.e., MarketMaker) on agricultural producers. Contingent valuation
techniques are employed to estimate the monetary value that producers placed on MarketMaker
services. Results indicate that producers are willing to pay $47.02 annually for the services they
receive. Registration type, amount of time registered, amount of time devoted to MarketMaker,
type of user, number of marketing contacts received, and firm total annual sales have a significant
effect on producers’ willingness to pay.