INDIANAPOLIS – A new online marketplace offering products linked exclusively to Indiana agriculture is like making lemonade from the lemons of COVID-19.

Shop Indiana Grown is another way of capitalizing on the surge of people doing their shopping online to limit their exposure to the virus, said Indiana Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch. 

The online marketplace offers items from the 1,700 members of Indiana Grown created five-years ago under the Indiana State Department of Agriculture to promote the sale of goods made with farm products grown in the state.

Indiana Grown is also open to agriculture related goods processed or packaged in the state. 

“This year shows not only do Hoosier consumers have a real interest in supporting their communities but they also want to do it through their phones or their iPads or their laptops from home,” said Heather Tallman, Indiana Grown Program Director. 

“So, it was incumbent upon all of us to work together in every area to think of ways to get our members and the community at-large online.  This is just one of many ways,” she said.

The online marketplace active since Dec. 14 is a free service providing a single location for Indiana Grown members to offer their products.

It’s also a site for consumers wanting to support producers in the state and purchase goods they might not be able on other websites or find at traditional brick and mortar stores and farmers markets closer to home.

“To have that one central location that people can go to and be able to access products Indiana Grown members are offering is powerful,” said Indiana Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch.

“It’s not just powerful but it also is extremely important to our Indiana Grown small businesses and entrepreneurs,” she said.

About 40 Indiana Grown members offering hundreds of products like cheese, honey, lotions and coffee have joined the online marketplace but the number is expected to climb as word spreads about the service.

Tallman said the service can also help increase sales when consumer activity usually trends downward the first three months after Christmas.

“We see this growing and we see this as a good tool moving into what we call the slow retail time of the season.  We hope this will get some people over the hump,” she said.

Some products offered by Indiana Grown members don’t seem related to agriculture on the surface but many are once taking a closer look at the ingredients. 

Tallman said some lotions, as an example, contain mint or lavender raised in Indiana.

She said coffee beans are grown elsewhere but the packaging and processing for the product is performed in the state.

Tallman said the online market is also a reaction to customers of farm related goods at the Indiana Grown Marketplace set up during the Indiana State Fair.

Many shoppers buying jams and other products expressed a desire to have those goods closer to home. 

Tallman said the new online marketplace allows people to go directly one site and look for their favorite products or other Indiana related goods.

She said a lot of energy in the coming months will be invested on expanding membership and making the online service even better.

“We will spend 2021 really growing the platform and tweaking it because that’s what the consumers want,” Tallman said.