Do You Need a License to Sell Microgreens in Florida?

No, not if you grow and pack your own raw microgreens. And Florida answers the question most states leave hanging: washing is explicitly fine.

Most state exemptions turn on a word they never define. Michigan says "whole, uncut". Ohio says "unprocessed". Texas says "whole, intact". None of them tell you whether rinsing your greens breaks the exemption, so a grower who wants to rinse grit off a tray is guessing.

Florida writes the answer into the statute. The definition of a regulated food establishment expressly excludes establishments that pack fruits and vegetables in their raw or natural state, including produce washed or otherwise treated in its natural form.

So, you can rinse and still sit outside the permit system. Read the water section below before you do, because washing is where the federal rule attaches a hard microbial number.

The federal layer applies on top and is the same everywhere. See the FDA Produce Safety Rule page.

The exclusion, and why the wording matters

Florida's Food Safety Act defines a food establishment broadly: a facility that manufactures, processes, packs, holds, stores, prepares or sells food. Then it carves out the packing of fruits and vegetables in their raw or natural state.

The carve-out is what puts you outside the permit system. Not an exemption you apply for, not a threshold you stay under. You are simply not the thing the statute regulates.

The permit, when one is triggered, is the FDACS Food Establishment Permit, issued by the Division of Food Safety. There is no Florida microgreens license, and there never was.

There is no sales threshold. This is a product and activity exclusion, not a dollar cap, so growing does not eventually push you into permitting the way a revenue threshold would. What moves you is what you do to the crop. Do not confuse this with the federal coverage figure of $34,324, which affects federal Produce Safety Rule status and has nothing to do with your Florida permit position.

Cottage food: a big number, and still not yours

Florida's cottage food cap is $250,000 in annual gross sales, raised from $50,000 by Chapter 2021-211 on 1 July 2021. It is a fixed state figure rather than an inflation-adjusted one.

It is one of the most generous caps in the country, and it is still the wrong instrument. A cottage food product is food that is not potentially hazardous and is produced and packaged at a residence. Microgreens are a raw agricultural commodity. The statute does not name them and does not convert produce into cottage food.

Your route is the raw produce exclusion above. It is better anyway: no cap at all, rather than a large one.

Labeling, which Florida spells out

Packaged microgreens carry real requirements here, and they are specific enough to act on. Under sections 500.09 and 500.11, packaged food must not be misbranded, which means it carries:

Two practical notes. The Department may exempt small open containers of fresh fruits and vegetables from the chapter's label requirements, so a loose market container may qualify while a sealed clamshell should carry the elements above. And do not add cottage food wording, which is inapplicable and misdescribes what you are selling.

In most states the honest answer to "what goes on my label" is that nothing state-specific is published. Florida tells you, so use it.

Tax and registration

Sales tax. Fresh microgreens sold as food for human consumption are exempt. Section 212.08 exempts food products for human consumption and expressly includes vegetables and vegetable products, while excluding meals, food ready for immediate consumption, and food sold from vending machines, pushcarts and motor vehicles. A seller whose only sales are exempt microgreens does not need a sales tax dealer registration for those sales, because the Department of Revenue requires registration before selling taxable goods. An Annual Resale Certificate is issued to registered dealers, so it is not automatically yours either.

Registration, with real numbers. Florida does not require a sole proprietor to form an entity. If you trade under a name other than your own, a Fictitious Name Registration with the Department of State costs $50 and must be advertised once in a county newspaper, though proof is not filed. A new LLC costs $125, being a $100 filing fee plus a $25 registered agent fee, with an annual report of $138.75 if filed on time. Both confirmed on 6 August 2026 from the state's fee schedules.

Local business tax receipt: not for your own crop. Section 205.064 says "A local business tax receipt is not required of any person for the privilege of engaging in the selling of farm ... products ... when such products were grown or produced by such person in the state." So, you do not need a county or city receipt to sell microgreens you grew in Florida. Zoning approval and a certificate of use for where you grow are separate and can still apply, as covered below. If a clerk asks you for a receipt, point them to 205.064.

A county Grower Permit, if you sell at markets. Many Florida farmers markets ask farmers for a Grower Permit signed by the UF/IFAS Extension office in the county where the crop is grown. It is a short county form: you confirm the produce is grown by you or a family member on land you or a family member own or lease in Florida, list your crops, and the county agent signs it. The form says it "is used to validate my status as a commercial grower", and it "expires 12 months" after it is signed. It is not a state license, but a market that asks for it will not take your grown items without it. Alachua County Extension, for one, tells growers who want to sell at a local farmers market that they "will need to have an up-to-date growers permit." Call your own county Extension office before your first market to ask whether it issues one.

Agricultural classification is property-specific and depends on bona fide commercial agricultural use. Pursue it with your county property appraiser rather than expecting a statewide test, because none is published.

Food safety and the free review

Florida adds anti-adulteration, anti-misbranding, inspection and food permit rules through the Food Safety Act, but publishes no microgreens-specific production standard on top of the federal rule. The operative state prohibition is that manufacturing, selling, delivering, holding or offering adulterated or misbranded food is prohibited.

Inspection. A raw produce grower and packer has no published routine FDACS inspection schedule, because you are outside the food establishment definition. If you become a permitted establishment, FDACS conducts an opening inspection before issuing the permit and can inspect at reasonable hours, with statutory access to the establishment, records and food transport vehicles. A federally covered farm may receive routine inspection through the FDA and state partner program.

Water, and a number worth knowing. For a covered farm, water used after harvest to wash or cool produce, to contact food-contact surfaces, to make contact ice, or to wash hands at harvest must have no detectable generic E. coli in 100 mL. Untreated groundwater for those uses is tested at least four times initially, then annually if it passes. Public water documentation or compliant treatment can substitute. For growing non-sprout produce the current rule calls for a written annual assessment rather than a fixed testing frequency. All of this sits in 21 CFR Part 112, Subpart E.

That post-harvest standard matters more here than in most states, precisely because Florida permits washing. If you wash, you are in the part of the rule with a hard microbial number attached.

The free review. FDACS runs a Produce Safety Rule program through its Division of Fruit and Vegetables, including a voluntary farm inventory survey, training, and a free educational On-Farm Readiness Review. It is a pre-inspection walk-through, not the regulatory inspection itself, and no training prerequisite is published for booking one.

Food handler certificates. None is published for a raw microgreens grower and packer. A permitted retail establishment handling potentially hazardous food must designate a Certified Food Protection Manager, which is a different situation and not a per-worker rule.

What changes by sales channel

Home growing, zoning and right to farm

Florida has an unusually explicit home-based business statute. Section 559.955 lets a qualifying home business operate in a residential area, subject to real conditions: the business stays secondary to the dwelling's use, up to two nonresident workers may work there, parking meets local rules, and external appearance, noise, odor, equipment, hazardous materials and transactions all meet the statutory conditions. HOA and condominium documents are not overridden, and county or municipal business taxes still apply.

That is more protection than most states give a home grower, and it is conditional rather than automatic.

Right to farm. Section 823.14 protects reasonable agricultural activity from nuisance suits and limits duplicate local regulation, for a bona fide farm operation on land classified as agricultural where the activity is already regulated through adopted best management practices. It does not excuse food safety, water, zoning, labor or environmental compliance, and it is not an automatic shield for an unclassified backyard operation.

The local layer is real. Unincorporated Orange County requires zoning approval for a Business Tax Receipt and applies home business guidelines alongside 559.955. The City of Miami requires a city Business Tax Receipt and Certificate of Use for every business including a home business, plus the Miami-Dade County receipt. These are business location requirements rather than a different state food license. For selling a crop you grew in Florida, section 205.064 takes the receipt itself off the table, so what still binds you is the zoning approval and certificate of use for the place you grow.

Insurance

Florida does not require a solo microgreens grower to carry general or product liability insurance.

The mandate that does bite is workers' compensation, and the agricultural thresholds are specific: an agricultural employer needs coverage at more than five regular employees, or 12 or more seasonal agricultural workers for 30 days or more. A non-agricultural, non-construction employer generally reaches the threshold at four. Details from the Division of Workers' Compensation.

Buyers contract for a certificate naming them as additional insured, general and product liability, indemnity, traceability and recall cooperation. Those limits are contractual and vary, so get the actual supplier agreement and have a broker and an attorney read the indemnity and recall clauses before signing.

What Florida does not publish

The market, with real numbers

Florida had an estimated 23,462,518 residents on 1 July 2025, with dense restaurant demand in Miami, Orlando, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville and the coastal tourist areas.

The competition is not theoretical, and this is worth sitting with before you plan. The 2022 USDA Census of Agriculture counted 1,241 vegetable and melon farms with $1.900 billion in sales, and 4,894 greenhouse, nursery and floriculture farms with $3.480 billion. Florida buyers already have extensive vegetable and greenhouse supply.

Your opportunity is specialty freshness and short delivery distance, not an underserved market. Validate price and product mix with the actual chefs and markets you intend to sell to.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do I need a license to sell microgreens in Florida? A: Not for growing and packing your own raw microgreens. The food establishment definition excludes packing fruits and vegetables in their raw or natural state.

Q: Can I wash them? A: Yes, and Florida is unusually clear about it. The exclusion covers produce "washed or otherwise treated in its natural form". If you do wash, note the post-harvest water standard: no detectable generic E. coli in 100 mL.

Q: Is there a sales limit before I need a permit? A: No. It is a product and activity exclusion, not a dollar cap. Growing bigger does not move you; changing what you do to the crop does.

Q: Florida's cottage food cap is $250,000. Can I use that? A: No. It is one of the most generous caps in the country and it is still the wrong regime. Cottage food is home-produced non-hazardous food, not a raw agricultural commodity. Your exclusion has no cap at all.

Q: Do I need an Agricultural Dealer License to sell to a restaurant? A: Not for your own crop. A farmer selling products they grew is expressly exempt. The license is aimed at buying and reselling.

Q: Do I need a grower's permit? A: Not from the state. Many farmers markets ask for a county Grower Permit signed by the UF/IFAS Extension office where you farm. It confirms you grow what you sell, lasts 12 months, and your county Extension office can tell you whether it issues one.

Q: Can I run this from home? A: Section 559.955 permits a qualifying home business in a residential area under stated conditions, and it does not override your HOA. Zoning approval and any certificate of use still apply, though section 205.064 says you do not need a local business tax receipt to sell produce you grew in Florida.

Q: Do I need workers' compensation? A: As an agricultural employer, at more than five regular employees, or 12 or more seasonal workers for 30 days or more.

Final thoughts

Florida is one of the easiest states to start in, and it gets there by being written down rather than by being lax. The exclusion is in the statute, the label requirements are enumerated, the home business rules are explicit, and the workers' compensation thresholds are stated. You can check every one of them yourself in an afternoon.

Two things to carry. If you wash, read Subpart E properly, because washing is where the federal rule attaches a hard microbial number and Florida's permission does not change that. And before your first market, get a county Grower Permit signed at your Extension office, because it is the document a market manager is most likely to ask for. The local business tax receipt, by contrast, is one section 205.064 says you do not need for your own crop.

If something here does not match what FDACS told you, report it and it gets corrected. A page that is wrong about a rule is worse than no page.

Sources

Every claim above traces to one of these. All checked 6 August 2026, with the business tax receipt exemption and Grower Permit sources (28 to 30) added 13 September 2026.