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Erie, Huron and Lorain County Farm Bureaus have ventured into the World Wide Web. They recently unveiled a new Web site, www.northcoastfarmbureau.org, which will keep members informed of benefits and upcoming activities.

The idea stemmed from Lorain County’s Farm Income and Risk Management coordinator, Kevin Ziegler. He wanted to revive a local ag business directory that had not been updated or sent to members in six years. After working with Connie Ward, organization director for Erie, Huron and Lorain counties, they decided that many members may have businesses that aren’t agriculture related, so they opened it to all businesses. When they finalized the list, they approached the businesses about offering discounts to the members in Erie, Huron and Lorain counties in exchange for being listed in the directory that was going to be mailed to 11,000 member families.

Thirty-eight tri-county businesses now offer discounts to members, and Farm Bureau intern Matt Smith created a member benefits brochure that is also available to members.

With such success, they didn’t want to stop there. They took it to the next level and added a Web site where the county Farm Bureaus and member benefits providers would get more exposure, and people could easily access information about the three Farm Bureaus. Ward updates the site monthly. The county information coordinators and other program leaders will write articles for the site. Anyone can access the site to see the list of member benefits, but all local businesses require members to show their cards for the discounts.

"I’m really excited about the site. It gives our member benefit providers more exposure, and gives our members more for their membership," Ward said. "It’s a great place for us to tell everyone what a great job Erie, Huron and Lorain County Farm Bureaus are doing."