From the Pacific Northwest to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, producers and producer-owned cooperatives are creating ways to use the Internet to make direct connections with consumers. In late March 2005, the National Farmers Union (NFU) unveiled its new e-cooperatives.com Web site to provide an online, retail marketplace through which farmers, ranchers and their co-ops can market and sell niche goods and services directly to consumers. The new Web site reflects growing farmer interest in learning how to effectively use the Internet as a marketing and sales tool.