Zip code software used in farmers' market search

A new website has been put together by the Los Angeles Times to help Californians identify their nearest farmers' market using zip code software and other information.

Designed to cater for people who like their food fresh, the website offer detailed information on where exactly people can go, when the first crops of certain fruits are available and which markets offer which kinds of produce.

The website is still in development and can be viewed on the Los Angeles Times website, but the paper is welcoming feedback and experimenting with different ways to search, from the use of zip code verification through to names of the markets themselves.

Information is offered on markets in all the five counties of southern California and the paper thinks this may be the first time this has been done, although keeping records of all the farmers' markets available has been a difficult task for the staff.

In other news, zip code software is being used by mid-west real estate firm Ruhl and Ruhl Realtors to allow people to view selected regional property details on their cell phones.