Do You Need a License to Sell Microgreens in Georgia?

Yes, most likely, for greens you cut and pack. Georgia's definition puts produce stands inside the licensed category, though the Department of Agriculture's own farmers market toolkit says unaltered fresh produce needs no license, which is the case a living tray makes.

Most states reach "no" through a carve-out. Michigan exempts "whole, uncut" produce, Ohio exempts "unprocessed", Florida excludes packing produce in its "raw or natural state". Georgia does not work that way.

Georgia's Department of Agriculture treats a fruit and vegetable store, and a roadside stand, and retail or wholesale food sales primarily for consumption off the premises, as a food sales establishment. Operating one without a license issued by the Commissioner is unlawful. Raw produce is not sitting outside the definition waiting for an exemption. It is named inside it.

So, the working answer is that you should get the Food Sales Establishment License from the Georgia Department of Agriculture, unless GDA confirms in writing that a narrow statutory exemption fits your exact operation. That last clause matters, and the section below on what Georgia does not publish tells you who to ask.

GDA's farmers market guidance reads more gently, and you should know both. Its Farmers Market Toolkit says "Selling unaltered fresh produce does not require a license or registration", and that rinsing off soil and debris "is not considered processing." The same toolkit lists "slicing, dicing, cutting, chopping ... packaging" among the steps that alter produce into a value-added product. A living tray sold whole is the unaltered case, and the strongest one for no license. Microgreens cut at harvest and packed in a clamshell touch two steps on that list, cutting and packaging, so the license remains the working answer for cut greens. Put your exact product to GDA and get the answer in writing.

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

Why Georgia lands on yes when its neighbors land on no

The difference is structural, not a matter of Georgia being stricter in spirit.

States that exempt raw produce do it by defining the regulated thing narrowly, then leaving a farmer outside it. Georgia defines the regulated thing broadly and puts produce retail inside. A fruit and vegetable store is a food sales establishment. A roadside stand is a food sales establishment. Selling to a restaurant or a grocer is wholesale food sales, which is inside the same framework.

The Food Safety Division issues the license. Its number, from GDA's own farmers market FAQ, is 404-656-3627. That is the call to make before you sell anything, and it is a short call: describe exactly what you grow, how you handle it, and who you sell it to.

The sprouts line, which is worth $300 in Georgia

The sprouts distinction matters wherever you sell, because the federal rule treats sprouts far more stringently under Subpart M and microgreens are not sprouts. In most states that distinction is about compliance burden. In Georgia it is also about a fee.

Georgia adopts 21 CFR Part 112 by reference and adds its own entry, embargo, condemnation and penalty powers. Separately, it licenses fresh sprout processors at $300.

Microgreens are cut above the soil line and harvested at the true-leaf stage. Sprouts are germinated seeds eaten whole, seed and all. FDA's own guidance draws that line clearly, and it puts microgreens outside the sprout regime. Keep your own product description consistent with it. Do not let a market listing, a menu, or a wholesale spec sheet call your product sprouts, because in Georgia that word has a license and a fee attached to it.

Cottage food, and why it is not your route

Georgia's cottage food rule covers specified non potentially hazardous foods made in the kitchen of a primary residence. The examples are baked goods, jams and jellies, dried fruits, dry herbs and similar shelf-stable products.

Raw, refrigerated microgreens are not on that list, and they are produce rather than a home-kitchen product. No cottage food sales cap appears in the current rule; the limit is on the product category, not on volume. There is a $100 annual Cottage Food License fee, halved to 50 percent after 30 June, and none of it is relevant to you.

The practical warning is about labels. Do not put the cottage food statement on a package of microgreens. It is exclusive to cottage products, and using it misdescribes what you are selling to both your customer and your regulator.

Food safety, training and the free review

If the federal Produce Safety Rule covers your farm, Georgia enforces it.

• Training. At least one supervisor or responsible party on a covered farm must complete recognized produce safety training. GDA points to the Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training. There is no blanket food-handler certificate requirement verified for a raw microgreens farm, and the ANSI training attached to cottage food is a different thing.
• Water. Georgia adopts the federal Part 112 requirements. Postharvest water touching produce, contact surfaces or hands must have no detectable generic E. coli per 100 mL. Untreated groundwater needs four representative tests initially, then annual testing once it passes. Public water documentation or compliant treatment can stand in.
• Inspections. GDA publishes the cycle: routine produce safety inspections every three years for covered farms, most of them announced. Unannounced or for-cause visits follow complaints, recalls, outbreaks, unresolved history, or an inability to reach you.
• The readiness review. GDA's Produce Safety Program runs a free, non-regulatory On-Farm Readiness Review before any regulatory inspection. Contact Susan Alexander at producesafetyinfo@agr.georgia.gov or 229-726-8617.

A published inspection cycle and a named person to call are more than most states give you. Use both, and book the review before you have a buyer waiting on you.

Labeling

Georgia publishes no microgreens-specific label list, so the honest answer is that you build the label from general requirements and confirm it with the Food Safety Division.

Two specifics. Do not use the cottage food statement, as above. And be careful with "keep refrigerated": Georgia's retail rule treats a food labeled that way as subject to its stated expiration-date rule, so if you use the phrase, use a date you can substantiate. Your buyer's refrigeration specification may be stricter than anything the state requires.

Confirm your actual label with GDA Food Safety on 404-656-3627 before you print a run of them.

Tax, registration and business setup

You do not need an LLC to sell microgreens. A sole proprietor registers a trade name with the clerk of superior court in the county of operation, at county-specific fees. If you do want the entity, a Georgia LLC costs $110 online or by mail, which is a $100 filing fee plus a $10 service charge, with a $50 annual registration after that. The Secretary of State's guide sets it out.

On sales tax, retail food and food ingredients for off-premises consumption are exempt from Georgia's 4 percent state rate but remain subject to local sales and use taxes. This is a fixed statutory treatment, not a threshold you grow into. Wholesale purchases for resale need a properly completed Form ST-5 to document the exemption.

Georgia also runs GATE, the Georgia Agriculture Tax Exemption, which can exempt qualifying agricultural inputs. Two cautions: it turns on bona fide agricultural production and your use must match the certificate, and it is not a waiver of the food sales license. Whether an indoor microgreens operation qualifies is not published, so ask GDA on 404-656-3600 rather than assuming.

Selling channel by channel

Farmers markets. You are in GDA food sales jurisdiction, and the market board can require more. The nonprofit-event waiver is narrow and aimed at qualifying low-risk foods, so do not read it as a general exemption for refrigerated fresh produce. Georgia's nine state markets report more than $1 billion in sales, so this is a real channel rather than a hobby outlet. The state markets that charge a gate fee need their own license from the Commissioner under Rule 40-9-6: you apply as a producer, list where your farm is and what you grow, agree that GDA may inspect the property you grow on, and renew by 31 December.

Restaurants and wholesale. Expect the Food Sales Establishment License plus buyer-ready paperwork: traceability, invoices, lot and product identification, handling temperature, and insurance. A live tray stays unaltered produce. Cut and packed greens touch the toolkit's list of alterations. The moment you add value-added processing you pick up facility and food-processing obligations.

Grocery. Typically a supplier agreement, UPC and case labels, a product specification, a lot and recall process, a certificate of liability insurance, and often GAP or PSR records or a third-party audit. No universal Georgia insurance limit or audit requirement is published. The buyer's own supplier manual is the real rulebook, so get it before you scale.

Online. Selling within Georgia is still retail food sales. Crossing a state line adds the destination state's licenses, taxes and buyer requirements. Do not lean on the cottage food internet provision, which does not apply to you.

Home growing, zoning and right to farm

Georgia has no statewide home-business override. Before you operate, check county and city zoning, the occupational tax or business license (though O.C.G.A. 48-5-356 bars a city from charging a tax or license fee on Georgia-raised agricultural products you sell yourself within 90 days of bringing them in), your HOA, water and sewer, traffic and signage, and any home-occupation rule. GDA itself tells home operators to check local law.

Note the harder limit: a private home cannot be used for food establishment operations under the retail food rules. Growing produce is not the same as operating a food establishment in your kitchen, but if your activity crosses into licensed food manufacturing or you need facility approval as a food sales establishment, you need a commercial or dedicated permitted facility.

Georgia's Freedom to Farm Act, HB 1150 of 2022, limits certain nuisance suits against agricultural operations. It protects you from a category of lawsuit. It waives nothing in food safety, permitting, zoning or environmental law, and whether your production site meets the statutory agricultural-operation facts is a question for a Georgia lawyer.

Insurance

Farm laborers are excluded from Georgia workers' compensation. A non-farm business regularly employing three or more people generally must carry it. Which side of that line you sit on depends on how your operation is actually characterized, which is worth settling early rather than after a claim. GDA does not decide it; see the State Board of Workers' Compensation.

General and product liability, recall, crop or property, and vehicle cover are all advisable. None is a published microgreens-specific mandate. Your buyers will set the real requirements: certificate and additional-insured status, indemnity, recall cooperation, product specs and delivery temperature terms. No standard dollar limit is published, so negotiate against the actual supplier agreement in front of you.

What Georgia does not publish

The market

Georgia's practical market is concentrated around metro Atlanta, supported by statewide produce infrastructure. GDA's nine state farmers markets report more than $1 billion in sales.

Read that as competition rather than as headroom. You are selling into a state with established vegetable farms, produce dealers and indoor specialty growers already in place. The realistic opening is chef-grade freshness and reliable delivery, not an absence of supply. For county-level production advice, UGA Cooperative Extension is the resource; for regulatory help, the Produce Safety Program contact above.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do I need a license to sell microgreens in Georgia? A: For cut and packed greens, almost certainly yes. Georgia defines a fruit and vegetable store and a roadside stand as a food sales establishment, and GDA's toolkit lists cutting and packaging as alterations. For a living tray sold whole, the toolkit's statement that unaltered fresh produce needs no license is the stronger reading. Confirm your specific operation with GDA Food Safety on 404-656-3627.

Q: Do the State Farmers' Markets need anything extra? A: Yes. Selling at a state market that charges a gate fee, in Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Macon or Savannah, takes a license from the Commissioner under Rule 40-9-6. It expires each 31 December and applying lets GDA inspect the property you grow on.

Q: Can I use the cottage food license instead? A: No. Cottage food is for non potentially hazardous foods made in a home kitchen, such as baked goods and jams. Raw microgreens are produce and are not on that list.

Q: Is there a sales figure below which I do not need the license? A: None was found in the current rules. Do not confuse this with the federal $34,324 figure, which decides federal Produce Safety Rule coverage and has nothing to do with your Georgia license.

Q: I keep seeing a $300 sprout license. Does that apply to me? A: No, and it is worth being precise about why. Georgia licenses fresh sprout processors separately, and microgreens are not sprouts. Keep your product described consistently everywhere so nobody classifies you into that regime by accident.

Q: How often would I be inspected? A: If the Produce Safety Rule covers you, GDA publishes a routine cycle of every three years, mostly announced. Complaints, recalls and outbreaks can trigger a visit at any time.

Q: Can I run this from home? A: You can grow at home subject to local zoning, your HOA and a local business license. You cannot run food establishment operations out of a private home under the retail food rules, so if your activity crosses into licensed food manufacturing you need a dedicated facility.

Q: Do I need workers' compensation? A: Farm laborers are excluded, and a non-farm business regularly employing three or more people generally must carry it. Settle which category you are in early.

Final thoughts

Georgia is a yes for cut, packed greens, and a yes is not bad news. It is a clear answer, which is more than a lot of states give you. The route is named, the issuing division is named, the phone number is published, the inspection cycle is published, and the readiness review is free.

Two things to carry. First, make the call to 404-656-3627 and describe your operation precisely rather than reading a website and hoping. The exemptions here are narrow and fact-specific, and a five-minute call is the difference between a license you needed and a license you did not. Second, watch the word sprouts everywhere your product is described, because Georgia is the state where that word has a fee attached.

If something here does not match what GDA 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 toolkit and state market license sources (21 and 22) added 13 September 2026.