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Microgreens Guru

Reference

Sources, and how to use them

Every agency and rule behind the pages on this site, with the part that is usually missing: which desk decides what, which desk will refuse to, what an agency means when it has not published something, and how to get an answer in writing that is still worth something a year from now.

The links below are the easy half. The advice around them is the half that took the calls.

The order of authority

Not all sources are the same kind of thing, and the difference matters the day somebody disagrees with you. Ranked by what each one is actually worth:

  1. One

    The statute or the rule itself

    The actual text of the law or regulation, on a state code site or in the Code of Federal Regulations. This is the only thing that binds anyone. It is also the hardest to read, which is why almost nobody starts here.

  2. Two

    The agency's own published page

    The agency reading its own rule, in plain language. Excellent, and one step removed: a summary page can lag an amendment, and it is written for the average case, not for yours.

  3. Three

    A written answer from the agency, about your operation

    The most valuable thing on this list, and the one almost no grower has. It applies the rule to the crop you actually grow, the way you actually harvest and sell it. This is what you want in a folder.

  4. Four

    A phone answer

    Useful for routing and for a quick sanity check. It is not durable. The person who told you is not on the record, will not remember, and may not be there next year. Treat a call as the step before the email, never instead of it.

  5. Five

    Everything else, this site included

    Guides, forums, videos, AI answers and this page. Good for learning the shape of a question and finding the right desk. None of it is authority, and none of it will help you in a dispute with an inspector.

This site sits in tier five and says so. What it does is carry every claim back to tier one or two so the trip is short, and name the desk when the honest answer is that only tier three will do.

How to get a written answer worth keeping

An agency answer is only as good as the facts it was given. A regulator asked “do I need a license to sell microgreens” will answer the average case, and the average case is not yours. Ask about the operation you actually run and the answer becomes something you can hold up.

Put all of this in the email

  • What you grow, by name, and that it is harvested at true leaf above the growing medium
  • Whether you cut it, wash it, mix varieties, or repack anything
  • How it is packaged, and whether it is refrigerated
  • Where you sell: farmers market, restaurant, grocery, online, farm stand, subscription
  • Roughly what you sell in a year, and whether that is growing
  • Whether you grow at home, and if so, where in the building

Then ask for three things

  • A yes or no on whether a license or registration is required for that operation as described
  • The name of the license category, and the rule or statute section it comes from. A cite lets you read it yourself and check it later.
  • What would change the answer. This is the question that saves you twice, because it tells you when to come back.

A template that works

Subject: Licensing determination request, microgreens grower

I grow microgreens (sunflower, pea, radish) indoors at [address].
The crop is grown in soil-based trays and cut above the growing
medium at the true leaf stage. I do not wash it. I [do / do not]
mix varieties. It is packed into clamshells and kept refrigerated.

I sell at [market name] direct to consumers, and I am considering
selling to [restaurants / a grocer] next season. Annual sales are
approximately $[figure].

Could you confirm, for the operation as described:

1. whether a license or registration is required, and if so which
   category it falls in;
2. the statute or rule section that determination rests on;
3. what change in my operation would change the answer.

I would be grateful for a reply by email so I have it on file.

When the reply lands

Keep the whole thread, not a screenshot of the answer, because the question you asked is the half that makes the answer mean anything. Save it as a PDF with the date visible and put it wherever your licenses live. If the reply comes by phone, write back the same day summarizing what you were told and ask them to confirm, which turns a call into a record.

Then re-ask when your operation changes. Adding washing, adding a restaurant account, or crossing a sales threshold can move you into a different category, and the old answer was only ever about the old operation.

What “not published” actually means

Pages on this site say “not published” where a state does not put an answer in public. That phrase covers three different situations and they call for different things from you.

  1. Case one

    The rule exists, it is just not on the website

    Common with internal policy and license category guidance. The answer exists in writing somewhere inside the agency, and asking usually produces it. Worth the email every time.

  2. Case two

    There is genuinely no state rule

    No water testing interval, no food handler card, no mandatory insurance. Nothing to comply with at state level, which is good news, and still worth getting in writing because “there is no requirement” is exactly the sentence you will want later.

  3. Case three

    The answer depends on facts no page can know

    This is the most common one, and it covers the questions growers care most about: zoning at your address, whether your handling counts as processing, whether a live tray is treated like cut greens. No page could publish a correct answer, because the answer is about you. Tier three is the only route.

What it never means is that you are free to do as you like. A silent state rulebook leaves the federal rules and your local ordinance exactly where they were.

Who answers what

Most wasted calls are a question put to the wrong desk. Find your question, then go to the desk beside it.

Hover or tap a row to highlight it.

Your questionDo I need a license to sell this?
The desk that decides itState agriculture or health department food safety division
Your questionHas my handling turned me into a processor?
The desk that decides itThe same state food safety division, in writing
Your questionDoes the federal Produce Safety Rule cover me?
The desk that decides itYour state produce safety program, which runs the inspections
Your questionWhat has to go on my label?
The desk that decides itState food safety division for the state layer, FDA for the federal baseline
Your questionCan I grow this in my garage or basement?
The desk that decides itYour city or township zoning administrator, not the state
Your questionDo I have to collect sales tax?
The desk that decides itThe state tax or revenue department
Your questionDo I need to register a business?
The desk that decides itSecretary of State, or the county clerk for an assumed name
Your questionDo I need insurance?
The desk that decides itA broker for cover, the state insurance department for the law, the buyer for the contract
Your questionIs my water compliant?
The desk that decides itYour state produce safety program
Your questionWhat will a grocery buyer demand?
The desk that decides itThe buyer. This is a contract question and no agency can answer it.

The desk everybody forgets is the local one

State licensing is the question growers research. Zoning is the one that actually stops people, and no state agency will answer it. Search your city or township name with “zoning administrator”, or call the clerk and ask who handles home occupations. Ask two things: whether growing and selling produce from the property is permitted in your zoning district, and whether a home occupation permit is required. Then ask the same office whether your county or city health department requires anything the state does not, because in some states it does and in Texas it routinely does.

Federal sources

These apply in every state. State rules sit on top of them, never instead of them. The federal picture is written up in full on the Produce Safety Rule page.

  • FDA, FSMA Produce Safety Rule

    FDA

    Answers

    • Whether the Produce Safety Rule covers your farm at all
    • What compliance involves: agricultural water, worker training, equipment, soil amendments, records
    • What a qualified exemption is and what it costs you in labeling and records

    Does not answer

    • Whether your state requires a license
    • Anything about zoning, insurance or business registration

  • FDA, FSMA inflation adjusted cut-offs

    Answers

    • The current dollar figure for the coverage cutoff and the qualified exemption cap

    Does not answer

    • Any state threshold. State figures are set by state law and move separately.

    What to askNothing to ask. This is a published table, and it changes every year, so read the figure rather than repeating one you saw on a blog.

  • FDA, FSMA Technical Assistance Network

    TAN

    Answers

    • Technical questions about how a FSMA rule reads

    Does not answer

    • A binding ruling on your specific farm. FDA calls this technical assistance, and means it.

    What to askPut the rule section number in the question. A question that names 21 CFR 112.4(a) gets an answer about 21 CFR 112.4(a).

  • FDA, Produce Safety Network

    ProduceSafetyNetwork@fda.hhs.gov

    Answers

    • Produce safety questions, and how the On-Farm Readiness Review works

    What to askAsk who runs the On-Farm Readiness Review in your state. It is free, voluntary, carries no enforcement, and is the cheapest look at your operation you will ever get.

  • FDA, Food Labeling Guide

    Answers

    • The federal label baseline: identity, net quantity, responsible firm, ingredients and allergens where they apply

    Does not answer

    • State label additions, and anything a buyer demands on top

  • USDA AMS, National Organic Program

    Answers

    • Whether you may market as organic, and the under $5,000 certification exemption

    Does not answer

    • Food safety. Organic is a marketing standard, not a safety rule.

  • USDA AMS, GAP and GHP audit program

    Answers

    • What a GAP audit is and how to get one

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need one. USDA calls it voluntary, and FDA says it is not a substitute for inspection. If a buyer wants it, that is a contract term.

State desks

Every desk listed here has been checked rather than guessed at, which is why states arrive one at a time. 52 have their desks confirmed, and each one has a full guide written.

Alabama

Read the Alabama guide

Start with ADAI Food Safety, for anything about the crop.

Alaska

Read the Alaska guide

Start with DEC Produce Safety, though the food code may not reach you at all.

Arizona

Read the Arizona guide

Start with AZDA Office of Produce Safety for the farm, your county for anything processed.

Arkansas

Read the Arkansas guide

Start with ADH Environmental Health, and the first question is whether your product is a microgreen or a sprout.

  • Arkansas Department of Health, Environmental Health and Food Protection

    ADH

    501-661-2171

    Answers

    • Whether your product meets the true-leaf and once-cut test for the Food Freedom Act
    • Whether a live tray with roots attached is treated as a sprout, which needs a permit and a process variance
    • Retail Food Establishment permits and Food Processing Plant permits when the Food Freedom route does not fit
    • That Food Freedom product cannot be sold to a restaurant for restaurant use

    Does not answer

    • Cottage food. Arkansas repealed that Act in 2021 and it no longer exists
    • City business licensing and zoning

    What to askADH tells you to take an uncertain classification to the Environmental Health Specialist at your LOCAL ADH unit. Do that before selling live trays, and get the answer in writing.

  • Arkansas Department of Agriculture, Produce Safety

    501-580-1852

    Answers

    • Federal Produce Safety Rule coverage in Arkansas, which the state has adopted as its own rule
    • Whether a free On-Farm Readiness Review is currently available, which is not published either way

    What to askArkansas publishes a voluntary farm food safety checklist but no clear statewide free readiness review. Ask directly rather than assuming.

  • Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration

    Answers

    • Whether producer-to-consumer sales are exempt under GR-41, and specifically whether farmers market sales qualify
    • The $50 electronic sales and use tax permit, and the $20 commercial farmer exemption card

    What to askRule GR-41 says off-farm established farmers markets are NOT eligible while a DFA summary says they are included. Ask for the classification in writing and keep it.

  • Arkansas Secretary of State, Business and Commercial Services

    Answers

    • LLC Certificate of Organization at $45 online or $50 on paper

    Does not answer

    • City privilege and business licenses, which most Arkansas cities issue themselves

  • University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service

    501-671-2000

    Answers

    • County-level production and food safety support statewide

  • Arkansas Insurance Department, Consumer Services

    501-371-2640

    Answers

    • Insurance regulation questions

    Does not answer

    • Whether your operation has a legal duty to carry cover, which is a question for an attorney or broker

California

Read the California guide

Start with Your COUNTY agricultural commissioner. California does not centralise this.

Colorado

Read the Colorado guide

Start with Your COUNTY public health agency, unless you are in one of the nine counties CDPHE licenses directly.

  • Your local public health agency

    Answers

    • Retail food licensing everywhere except the nine counties CDPHE serves directly
    • Whether your microgreens sit in the exempt whole and uncut produce category
    • What happens to the exemption if you wash and pack a ready-to-eat product
    • Whether live trays can be sold at your market

    What to askStart here, not with the state. CDPHE licenses retail food directly only in Clear Creek, Dolores, Gilpin, Moffat, Ouray, Park, Pitkin outside Aspen, Rio Blanco and San Juan. Everywhere else, including the whole Front Range, it is your county.

  • CDPHE, Division of Environmental Health and Sustainability

    303-692-2000

    Answers

    • Retail food licensing in the nine directly served counties, and the $155 plan review fee
    • Which counties it serves directly

    Does not answer

    • Retail licensing in the other counties, which is the local public health agency

  • CDPHE Manufactured Food Program

    303-692-3645

    Answers

    • Manufactured Food or Storage Facility registration for washing, repacking, wholesale and storage
    • Approved-source status, which is what a grocery buyer will ask about
    • Label questions once you are past raw produce

    What to askRegistration is specific to owner AND location, so an ownership change or a move needs a new application.

  • Colorado Department of Agriculture, Produce Safety Program

    303-869-9284cda_produce.safety@state.co.us

    Answers

    • Federal Produce Safety Rule coverage, registration and inspections
    • The systems-based annual pre-harvest agricultural water assessment
    • On-Farm Readiness Reviews, which are non-regulatory compliance assistance

    What to askNo fee is published for the readiness review, which is not the same as it being free. Confirm when you book.

  • Colorado Department of Revenue

    Answers

    • Whether you need a sales tax license, at $16 prorated plus a $50 refundable deposit
    • The DR 0511 farm equipment and agricultural input exemption

    Does not answer

    • Home-rule city taxes. Self-collecting cities write their own rules, so the state answer may not be yours

  • Colorado Secretary of State, Business Division

    303-894-2200

    Answers

    • Entity formation and current filing fees

    Does not answer

    • The filing fee was NOT verified from an official fee page in the research behind this page. Ask rather than trusting a quoted figure

Connecticut

Read the Connecticut guide

Start with DoAg Produce Safety Unit, and your TOWN for anything prepared.

Delaware

Read the Delaware guide

Start with DDA Produce Safety Team, and register by April 30 every year.

  • Delaware Department of Agriculture, Produce Safety Team

    DDA

    302-698-4500DE.ProduceSafety@delaware.gov

    Answers

    • The annual Produce Safety registration, required of every produce farm regardless of exemption
    • The exemption application, which does NOT replace registering
    • The On-Farm Readiness Review, open to any farm and explicitly not an audit

    What to askRegister first, then apply for the exemption. Delaware treats you as fully covered until it approves one.

  • DDA Food Products Inspection

    302-698-4540

    Answers

    • Inspection, labeling questions, and whether your handling needs a food establishment path
    • On-farm kitchen permits, if you separately make a processed food

  • Delaware Division of Revenue

    Answers

    • Business licensing and gross receipts tax, and the farm owner exclusion for own unprocessed products

    Does not answer

    • Sales tax. Delaware has none.

District of Columbia

Read the District of Columbia guide

Start with DC Health, Division of Food, which decides whether your harvested product is a cut leafy green. There is no D.C. department of agriculture at all, so no office here has produce growers as its job.

  • DC Health, Division of Food

    DC Health

    202-535-2180food.safety@dc.gov

    Answers

    • Whether the produce stand exclusion at 25-A DCMR 9901 covers you, which excludes an operation offering only whole, uncut, fresh fruits and vegetables from the definition of food establishment
    • The question that actually decides your case: whether cut microgreens are a cut leafy green, which 9901 defines to include baby leaf lettuce, meaning immature lettuce or leafy greens
    • Whether that classification makes your product a TCS food, and the cold holding and date marking that follow
    • Food establishment licensing, inspections, and the food protection manager requirement
    • Whether a food processing plant license is the right category for a packing operation

    Does not answer

    • The Basic Business License and its category, which is DLCP
    • Zoning and whether you may grow for sale at a residence, which is DOB
    • Tax registration or the urban farm abatement, which is OTR
    • Federal Produce Safety Rule status, since the District runs no state produce program

    What to askDescribe the crop, the room, how you harvest, whether you rinse, what you pack into and how you store it, then ask directly whether the harvested product is a cut leafy green under 9901 and whether the produce stand exclusion still reaches you. Ask for the answer in writing. Note that the Division of Food publishes a remit covering restaurants, grocery stores, mobile vendors and cottage food, and does not mention growers, produce or farmers markets anywhere, so expect to explain the operation from first principles.

  • Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, Business Licensing

    DLCP

    202-671-4500

    Answers

    • Which Basic Business License category a whole, uncut microgreens grower should file under
    • Current fees, and the Clean Hands certification requirement
    • Whether a General Business License fits where the Food Services category does not

    Does not answer

    • Whether your product is a cut leafy green, which only DC Health decides
    • Zoning approval or a certificate of occupancy
    • Anything about the federal Produce Safety Rule

    What to askAsk this BEFORE you file rather than after, because there is a real circularity here and the District publishes no resolution: the Food Services license category is defined by reference to Title 25, and Title 25 excludes the whole produce stand from the definition of food establishment. So the category points at a body of rules that points away from you. Ask which category actually applies. IMPORTANT TIMING: DLCP took its licensing systems offline on 5 August 2026 and launched a replacement portal, BOSS, on 10 August 2026, so start at DLCP rather than following older step-by-step instructions found elsewhere.

  • Department of Buildings, Office of the Zoning Administrator

    DOB

    202-671-3500

    Answers

    • Whether you may grow for sale at a residential address, and under which use category
    • Whether the Agricultural, Residential use applies, which covers cultivation intended for personal use, sale on-site or eventual sale off-site and is matter-of-right in R zones
    • Whether a certificate of occupancy or a change of use is needed for an indoor or warehouse operation

    Does not answer

    • Any food safety or licensing question
    • Tax

    What to askDo NOT reach for a Home Occupation Permit, and push back if you are steered toward one. Subtitle U 251.1 is a CLOSED list of permitted home occupations, growing is not on it, and 251.1(l)(3) bars sales without appointments. The correct hook is the separate Agricultural, Residential use category. DLCP licensing steps still routinely ask home businesses for a home occupation permit, which is why this call is worth making before you accept that answer.

  • Office of Tax and Revenue

    OTR

    Answers

    • Sales tax registration and how fresh produce is treated
    • Clean Hands compliance, which gates the business license
    • The urban farm tax abatement and whether your site qualifies

    Does not answer

    • Licensing categories, food safety, or zoning

  • FDA Produce Safety Network, and UDC College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability and Environmental Sciences

    FDA PSN / UDC CAUSES

    240-402-2037

    Answers

    • Your coverage status under the federal Produce Safety Rule, and the qualified exemption test
    • Where Produce Safety Alliance grower training is actually delivered for a District grower

    Does not answer

    • Any District licensing question
    • Confirmation that UDC delivers PSA training, which its own page does not claim

    What to askThis is the gap the District cannot fill for you. With no D.C. department of agriculture there is no state produce program, so federal questions go to the FDA Produce Safety Network on 240-402-2037 rather than to a local desk. UDC CAUSES on 202-274-7124 is the nearest land-grant institution, but its page mentions neither PSA training nor GAP, so ask rather than assume.

Florida

Read the Florida guide

Start with FDACS Division of Food Safety, though the exclusion means you may need nobody.

Georgia

Read the Georgia guide

Start with GDA Food Safety Division, and here the answer is usually that you do need the license.

  • Georgia Department of Agriculture, Food Safety Division

    GDA

    404-656-3627

    Answers

    • The Food Sales Establishment License, which is the expected route for a Georgia microgreens grower
    • Whether any narrow statutory exemption fits your exact operation
    • Label review, including the expiration-date rule that attaches if you write "keep refrigerated"
    • How live uncut trays are treated, which GDA has not published

    Does not answer

    • Cottage food, which is a different rule and not a route for raw produce
    • City and county occupation tax and zoning

    What to askDescribe what you grow, how you handle it, and who you sell it to, then ask whether you need the Food Sales Establishment License. Georgia defines the licensed category broadly, so assume yes until they say otherwise.

  • GDA Produce Safety Program

    229-726-8617producesafetyinfo@agr.georgia.gov

    Answers

    • Federal Produce Safety Rule coverage in Georgia, farm registration and grower training
    • The free, non-regulatory On-Farm Readiness Review
    • The routine inspection cycle, which GDA publishes as every three years

    What to askBook the readiness review before you are ever inspected. Susan Alexander is the named contact.

  • Georgia Department of Agriculture, general line

    404-656-3600

    Answers

    • GATE, the Georgia Agriculture Tax Exemption, including whether an indoor operation qualifies

    Does not answer

    • GATE is not a food license waiver, so it does not answer the licensing question

  • Georgia Department of Revenue

    Answers

    • That food for off-premises consumption is exempt from the 4 percent state rate but not from local tax
    • Form ST-5 for documenting a resale exemption

  • Georgia Secretary of State, corporations

    Answers

    • LLC formation at $110 and the $50 annual registration

    Does not answer

    • Trade name registration, which is your county clerk of superior court

  • Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation

    Answers

    • The three-or-more employee rule, and the farm labor exclusion

Hawaii

Read the Hawaii guide

Start with The state Department of Health Food Safety Branch, which permits the PLACE where food is handled and asks nothing about sales volume. Licensing is one statewide program, not four county ones; what varies by island is premises.

  • State of Hawaii Department of Health, Food Safety Branch

    DOH Food Safety Branch

    808-586-8000

    Answers

    • Whether your packing room, farm stand, CSA or online fulfillment site needs a Food Establishment Permit under HAR 11-50-3(a)
    • Which permit category fits: Food Establishment, Special Event, or both
    • The current permit fee for your category and square footage, which is not published anywhere
    • What ongoing permit covers a weekly year-round farmers market booth, since one Special Event permit is capped at 31 days in any 365
    • Whether the $25 Farmers Value Added line on the special event fee schedule applies to raw microgreens
    • A written classification of your specific crop, growing medium, roots and retail presentation, including a living tray
    • Whether your cut greens are handled as TCS food, and the cold holding, date marking and reduced oxygen packaging duties that follow
    • Plan review requirements and the $200 or $300 plan review fee
    • Sampling and testing required for a nonpublic water system under HAR 11-50-60

    Does not answer

    • County zoning, home occupation, building, fire or plumbing approval for your address
    • General Excise Tax registration, rates or forms
    • Plant quarantine, or what seed and plant material may be brought into Hawaii
    • Your federal Produce Safety Rule coverage status
    • What a restaurant or grocery buyer requires in a vendor agreement

    What to askDescribe the room and its address, say whether you sell cut and clamshelled or living trays, and name your buyers, then ask which permit category you need, what the current fee is, and how the Branch classifies the product. Ask for the reply in writing. Call the district office for the island where the food is actually handled: Hilo 808-933-0917, Kona 808-322-1507, Maui, Molokai and Lanai 808-984-8230, Kauai 808-241-3323. Any of them gives the same chapter 11-50 answer, but the inspector who eventually walks into your room works out of that office. Read the 24 August 2025 code rather than an older mirror.

  • Hawaii Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity, Produce Safety Program

    Produce Safety Program

    808-832-0705Joey.K.Ooka@hawaii.gov

    Answers

    • Your coverage status under the federal Produce Safety Rule, and the current inflation adjusted sales figures
    • PSA Grower Training dates and enrollment
    • Booking an On-Farm Readiness Review, which the program describes as free, confidential, non-regulatory and not conveyed to FDA
    • That FDA inspectors, not the state program, schedule routine Produce Safety Rule inspections of covered non-exempt farms
    • Fee-based USDA and Primus audit services, including greenhouse, harvest crew, packinghouse and cooler scopes
    • Routing a plant quarantine or seed import question to the right desk inside the department

    Does not answer

    • The Department of Health food establishment permit, which is a separate agency under a separate rule
    • County zoning or building approval
    • General Excise Tax

    What to askGive your average annual produce sales over the last three years and ask whether you are excluded, qualified exempt or covered under the Produce Safety Rule, then book PSA Grower Training and an On-Farm Readiness Review. This is also the number to call about bringing seed or plant material into Hawaii, because that question belongs to this department even though this program does not answer it directly.

  • State of Hawaii Department of Taxation

    DOTAX

    Answers

    • Registering for a General Excise Tax license on Form BB-1, a one-time $20 fee
    • The 4 percent retail rate plus any county surcharge, and the 0.5 percent wholesale rate on sales to a retailer for resale
    • Using and retaining a Form G-17 resale certificate to substantiate a wholesale transaction
    • Form G-61 for products delivered outside Hawaii, and that airport delivery to a departing visitor is not an export exemption
    • That there is no blanket agricultural exemption from General Excise Tax

    Does not answer

    • Any food safety permit or inspection question
    • Business entity formation, which is a separate filing
    • County zoning or land use

    What to askRegister before you invoice anybody. If you sell both retail to consumers and wholesale to grocers, confirm which rate applies to each channel and what documentation the department expects you to retain for the wholesale rate.

  • Your county planning department, in Honolulu, Hawaii County, Maui County or Kauai County

    Answers

    • Land use and zoning for the room or structure you intend to grow and pack in
    • Home occupation rules if you are growing at a private home
    • Building, fire and market vendor rules, which each county can set more strictly

    Does not answer

    • The state food permit, which no county replaces with its own
    • Anything under chapter 11-50, which is the Food Safety Branch

    What to askSection 11-50-1 expressly preserves more stringent local requirements, so a county can add rules on top of the state permit but cannot replace it. Hawaii publishes no statewide index of county land use answers, so ask your own county directly and put the state food premises question separately to the Branch.

  • University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources

    CTAHR

    Answers

    • Your county Extension contact for produce safety
    • Produce safety training delivered jointly with the Produce Safety Program
    • Which grant opportunities are actually open this cycle, since no microgreens-specific Hawaii grant program was found

    Does not answer

    • Issuing or interpreting the Department of Health food establishment permit
    • Tax registration
    • County zoning decisions

Idaho

Read the Idaho guide

Start with Your public health district, one of seven. DHW writes the rule and does not issue the license.

  • Your public health district

    Answers

    • Whether your product is TCS, which is the question this whole state turns on
    • The license itself, its fee, plan review, inspection and enforcement, all delegated under IDAPA 16.02.19.111.07(b)
    • Whether your risk category or approved plan adds a training condition

    Does not answer

    • A statewide fee. Fees are set district by district, so anyone quoting one number is guessing
    • Zoning and home occupation, which are your city or county

    What to askGive them the process, not the word microgreens: grown live or cut, packed or loose, direct or wholesale, and whether any washing, mixing, refrigeration or retail counter is involved. Those facts decide the TCS call.

  • Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Food Protection Program

    DHW

    208-334-4994foodprotection@dhw.idaho.gov

    Answers

    • How IDAPA 16.02.19 reads, including the non-TCS vendor exclusion and the agricultural market definition
    • Which public health district serves your premises
    • The Direct-to-Consumer Commerce Act consumer notice

    Does not answer

    • Issuing your license. That is the district, every time

  • Idaho State Department of Agriculture, Produce Safety Program

    ISDA

    208-332-8502fsma@isda.idaho.gov

    Answers

    • Federal Produce Safety Rule coverage for Idaho-grown produce
    • The free, voluntary, non-regulatory On-Farm Readiness Review, where you keep the notes
    • GAP, GHP and USDA Harmonized audits through the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program

    What to askThe online coverage tool is an ESTIMATE. Submit the Verification Form if you need an official determination, and do not build a compliance position on the estimator.

  • Idaho State Tax Commission

    Answers

    • That retail sales of fresh produce are taxable in Idaho, unlike most states in this series
    • The seller’s permit trigger of more than two retail sales in any 12 months, and that the permit is free
    • Form ST-101, for a buyer’s resale claim and for your own production exemption

    What to askAssume you need the permit. Two retail sales is a single Saturday morning, and the permit costs nothing.

  • Idaho Secretary of State

    Answers

    • Assumed business name registration at $25 online or $45 on paper, and an LLC Certificate of Organization at $100 online or $120 on paper

    Does not answer

    • Food permits, and city or county business licensing

  • University of Idaho Extension, Produce Safety

    208-364-4579

    Answers

    • Produce safety education and county-level support

  • ISDA general line

    208-332-8500

    Answers

    • Idaho Preferred marketing support and the producer and market directory
    • Current Specialty Crop Block Grant and value-added opportunities
    • Right to farm questions, which are fact specific and not published for microgreens

  • Idaho Legislative Services Office

    208-334-2475

    Answers

    • Bills affecting Idaho Code 39-1602, cottage foods, direct-to-consumer food sales or agricultural markets

    What to askThe Legislature pages were not reachable when this page was researched, so no bill search here is complete. Confirm any enacted change against the Administrative Code and your district.

Illinois

Read the Illinois guide

Start with Your State-certified local health department, which registers the cottage food operation. Illinois names microgreens in the statute itself.

  • Your State-certified local health department

    Answers

    • Whether you may register as a cottage food operation under 410 ILCS 625/4
    • Issuing the certificate of registration and your identifying registration number
    • The annual local registration fee, which may be no more than $50
    • Whether a living, uncut tray fits the Section 4 microgreen definition at the point of sale
    • Whether a private well needs a sample meeting E. coli and coliform standards
    • Whether another conspicuous written notice may replace prepackaging here

    Does not answer

    • Any wholesale or resale sale, which a cottage food registration cannot cover at all
    • Sales tax registration or the local grocery tax, which is the Department of Revenue
    • Zoning, signage, parking or customer pickup at a residence

    What to askAsk whether they treat a living uncut tray as a Section 4 microgreen or as something else, and get the answer in writing. The statute defines the cut product; the tray is the open edge.

  • Illinois Department of Public Health, Division of Foods, Drugs and Dairies

    IDPH

    217-785-2439

    Answers

    • Which State-certified local health department covers your address
    • How the adopted 2022 FDA Food Code sits over a cottage food registration
    • Escalation when a local department's answer conflicts with the statute

    Does not answer

    • Issuing your registration certificate, which only the local department does
    • Setting or waiving the local registration fee

  • Illinois Department of Revenue

    IDOR

    Answers

    • Whether you must register and hold a Certificate of Registration as a retailer
    • Whether a local 1 percent grocery tax applies at your selling location, after the statewide tax ended on 1 January 2026
    • When a CRT-61 resale certificate is needed, and how long to retain it
    • Whether specific farm machinery or equipment qualifies for the agricultural exemption

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need a food registration or license

  • University of Illinois Extension, Produce Safety

    extension@illinois.edu

    Answers

    • Whether your farm is FSMA covered, qualified exempt or excluded
    • Produce Safety Alliance grower training
    • Which audit programs a buyer is likely to recognize

    Does not answer

    • Issuing any registration, license or approval
    • Whether a free On-Farm Readiness Review is offered in Illinois, which is not published either way

  • Illinois Secretary of State, Department of Business Services

    Answers

    • Articles of Organization on form LLC 5.5, at the published $150 fee
    • The $100 expedited service fee

    Does not answer

    • Any food registration, food safety or labeling question

Indiana

Read the Indiana guide

Start with Nobody, if you sell direct to the eater. IDOH Food Protection the moment you do not.

  • Indiana Department of Health, Food Protection

    IDOH

    317-234-8569

    Answers

    • Whether you qualify as a homestead vendor or small farm operator under IC 16-42-5.4
    • Wholesale registration under IC 16-42-1-6, needed the moment you sell for resale
    • How live uncut trays are treated, which is not published
    • Which local health department is your regulatory authority

    Does not answer

    • Routine inspection of a compliant exempt operation. There is none
    • Local zoning, building and fire rules, which the food exemption does not override

    What to askLead with WHO YOUR BUYER IS. The exemption turns entirely on selling direct to the end consumer, and a restaurant or grocer is not one.

  • IDOH Produce Team

    317-233-8475ProduceSafety@health.in.gov

    Answers

    • Federal Produce Safety Rule coverage, records guidance and qualified exemption worksheets
    • Whether a free on-farm readiness review is available, which IDOH does not publish either way

    What to askCheck the coverage threshold against FDA rather than the IDOH page: IDOH publishes $28,075 while FDA currently publishes $34,324. Both verified 6 August 2026.

  • Your county or city health department

    Answers

    • Retail Food Establishment registration under 410 IAC 7-26, if you fall outside the exemption
    • Plan review, inspection frequency and fees, all of which are set locally
    • Whether your cut product is TCS

    What to askA proposed retail establishment must notify its regulatory authority at least 30 days before registering, so call early.

  • Indiana Department of Revenue

    Answers

    • That a seller of only exempt food needs no Retail Merchant registration
    • The $25 registration fee and 7 percent rate once you sell anything taxable
    • The double direct test for the agricultural production exemption

  • Indiana Secretary of State, INBiz

    Answers

    • Entity formation and assumed business name registration

    Does not answer

    • The current filing fee was NOT published in any food source reviewed for this page. Ask rather than trusting a quoted figure

  • Indiana State Department of Agriculture

    Answers

    • Right to Farm questions, which are fact-specific and not published for indoor growing

    Does not answer

    • Food licensing, which is IDOH and your local health department

Iowa

Read the Iowa guide

Start with DIAL Food Licensing, though which office inspects you depends on your county and your license category.

  • Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing, Food Safety Bureau

    DIAL

    515-725-5342

    Answers

    • Whether your product is inside the 137F.1(9)(c) whole and uncut produce exception
    • Which license category you fall in, which turns on whether you own the outlet you sell to
    • Your dominant form of business under 137F.5(3), if you both wholesale and sell direct

    Does not answer

    • Zoning and home occupation rules, which are your city or county and which food law does not preempt
    • A grocery buyer’s procurement terms. DIAL answers for the license, never for the contract

    What to askDescribe the product at the moment of sale. Whole and uncut is the entire statutory test, so a living tray and a cut punnet get different answers from the same bench. Get the determination in writing.

  • DIAL Food Plan Review

    515-350-7587

    Answers

    • Plan review for a retail food establishment or a food processing plant, which both require it

    What to askCall before you build, not after. Iowa Code 137F.9 bars opening before inspection and licensing, so a finished room is the expensive time to discover a problem.

  • DIAL, food processing plants

    Answers

    • The wholesale category, required for selling to outlets you do not own
    • The $75 to $500 annual fee bands, set by gross sales under 137F.6(1)(g)
    • The 30-day application lead time before operating

    Does not answer

    • Any sales figure that exempts you. The bands are fees, not thresholds

  • DIAL, farmers markets

    Answers

    • That whole, uncut fresh vegetables may be sold without a farmers market establishment license
    • The $150 annual license, the three-day application window and the separate license needed per simultaneous stand

    What to askIowa Code 137F.8 makes each vendor solely responsible for their own license. A market organizer cannot carry it for you, whatever they say at sign-up.

  • DIAL, food inspection jurisdictions

    Answers

    • Which body inspects you: DIAL in 68 counties, one of ten local health departments in the other 31

    Does not answer

    • Food processing plants, where DIAL is the regulator in all 99 counties regardless of where you are

  • Iowa Produce Safety Program, IDALS and Iowa State University Extension

    515-725-1179

    Answers

    • Federal Produce Safety Rule coverage, education and technical assistance
    • The free, voluntary On-Farm Readiness Review
    • Grower training that meets the requirement for fully covered farms

    What to askJohn Krzton-Presson is the program contact. Check the federal coverage figure against FDA rather than any state page.

  • Iowa Department of Revenue

    Answers

    • That a business selling only exempt unprepared food needs no sales tax permit and files no returns
    • The agricultural production input exemption and certificate 31-014

  • Iowa Secretary of State

    Answers

    • The $50 Certificate of Organization and the $30 online or $45 paper biennial report

    Does not answer

    • Food licensing. Registering a business licenses nothing about food

  • Iowa Workforce Development

    Answers

    • Unemployment insurance registration, due within 30 days of first paying Iowa wages

Kansas

Read the Kansas guide

Start with KDA Food Safety and Lodging. Food safety sits in the AGRICULTURE department here, which is not where most growers look first.

  • Kansas Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Lodging Program

    KDA FSL

    785-564-6767KDA.FSL@ks.gov

    Answers

    • Whether your own fresh, uncut crop qualifies for the K.S.A. 65-689(d)(4) direct distribution exemption
    • Whether a specific arrangement still counts as you retaining physical control until sale
    • Whether cutting, packing, aggregating or holding for further distribution needs a Food Processing Plant License
    • Whether a Food Establishment License applies, and whether one site needs both
    • Fees, pre-licensing inspection and the K.A.R. 4-28-6 inspection frequency for your category

    Does not answer

    • City or county zoning, home occupation, building or fire rules
    • Whether a living tray is a plant sale rather than a food sale, which is Plant Protection's call
    • Sales tax registration, rates or exemption certificates

    What to askSay exactly what you sell and how: your own crop, cut or as a living tray, direct to consumers or to restaurants or grocers, and that you keep physical control until the sale. Then ask whether K.S.A. 65-689(d)(4) exempts you or whether you need a Food Processing Plant License. In writing.

  • KDA Produce Safety

    785-564-6767KDA.ProduceSafety@ks.gov

    Answers

    • Whether your farm is covered, qualified exempt or not covered under the Produce Safety Rule
    • A free, non-regulatory on-farm readiness review
    • What agricultural water assessment and testing your operation actually needs

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need a Kansas food license, which is Food Safety and Lodging

    What to askCheck the federal coverage figure against FDA rather than the KDA page, which still shows $33,297 for 2022 to 2024. FDA currently publishes $34,324 for 2023 to 2025.

  • KDA Plant Protection and Weed Control

    Answers

    • Whether selling live plants requires a Live Plant Dealer License in your situation
    • Whether a market vendor selling living stock falls inside that license

    Does not answer

    • Whether cut microgreens need a food license, food labeling or inspection

    What to askIf you sell trays the customer cuts themselves, ask whether that is a sale of live plants or a food sale, and whether the answer changes when the tray is marketed as food rather than as transplant or ornamental stock. In writing.

  • Kansas Department of Revenue

    KDOR

    Answers

    • Whether you must register to collect sales tax
    • How the 0 percent state food rate from 1 January 2025 interacts with local food tax where you sell
    • Resale certificates, and the farm machinery exemption under K.S.A. 79-3606(t)

    Does not answer

    • Whether your product is exempt produce for KDA purposes, which is a different question entirely

    What to askName each city and county you sell in. The local food tax rate can differ between them.

  • Kansas Secretary of State

    785-296-4564

    Answers

    • Entity registration, which must be completed BEFORE KDA will issue a food license
    • The current $75 LLC formation filing fee

    Does not answer

    • Any food license, exemption or inspection question

  • K-State Research and Extension, Food Safety

    KSRE

    Answers

    • Technical help on produce handling, sanitation and food safety plans
    • Which specialist or local extension office covers your county

    Does not answer

    • Any licensing determination, which only KDA can give

Kentucky

Read the Kentucky guide

Start with CHFS Food Safety Branch, and the word that decides it is "packaged".

  • Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Public Health, Food Safety Branch

    CHFS

    502-564-7181

    Answers

    • Whether you are a food processing establishment needing the annual KRS 217.125(2) permit
    • Whether the retail food store exclusion for markets offering only fresh fruits and vegetables covers you
    • Whether cutting and packaging for your own market table crosses the line, which is the honest gap here
    • How to complete the DFS-260 food plant application
    • What 902 KAR 45:160 requires on sanitation, water, equipment and records

    Does not answer

    • Your city or county zoning, occupational registration and home occupation rules
    • The retail food permit held by the restaurant or grocer buying from you, which is issued locally
    • Federal Produce Safety Rule coverage and the agricultural water assessment

    What to askAsk separately for each channel, market table and wholesale, because the exclusion and the trigger sit in the same statute and the answer can differ. In writing.

  • Kentucky Department of Agriculture, Produce Safety Program

    KDA

    502-573-0282

    Answers

    • Whether your farm is covered, qualified exempt or not covered under the Produce Safety Rule
    • A free, voluntary On-Farm Readiness Review before any inspection
    • The current agricultural water assessment and testing path
    • A Certificate of Exemption or Certificate of Compliance, which farmers markets ask for

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need the state food processing establishment permit, which is CHFS
    • Label content review for a packaged commercial product

  • Kentucky Department of Revenue

    DOR

    Answers

    • Whether your sales are exempt food and food ingredients under KRS 139.485
    • Whether you need a sales and use tax account at all for exempt sales
    • How to apply for and use the Agriculture Exemption number
    • Which inputs qualify under 103 KAR 30:091

    Does not answer

    • Any food safety permit, inspection or labeling question

  • Kentucky Secretary of State, Business Filings

    Answers

    • A Certificate of Assumed Name for a trade name, listed at $20
    • A domestic LLC, with Articles of Organization at $40 and a $15 annual report

    Does not answer

    • Any food permit, inspection or labeling requirement
    • City and county occupational license tax registration, which is local

Louisiana

Read the Louisiana guide

Start with Your parish State Sanitarian. LDH central can route you, but the parish handles plans, review and the permit.

  • Your parish State Sanitarian

    Answers

    • Whether your wash and pack setup is a Part XXIII food establishment
    • Plans, pre-opening review and permit issuance for the parish you operate in
    • Whether your packaging and handling need a specific label statement

    Does not answer

    • Zoning and land use, which are the parish or municipality on a different footing

    What to askAsk before you offer a restaurant a cut, packaged product. Wholesale sits outside the R.S. 3:3673 direct-sale protection, and the classification of a pack room is fact specific.

  • Louisiana Department of Health, Bureau of Sanitarian Services, Retail Food Program

    LDH

    225-342-9500

    Answers

    • The permit to operate under LAC 51:XXIII:501.A, and the application and plans process at 503
    • The Food Safety Certificate at $25, renewed every five years
    • Plan review at $100 standard or $1,000 expedited, required before work begins
    • The risk-based inspection cycle of one to four times a year

    Does not answer

    • The R.S. 3:3673 fee bar as a shield against inspection. It removes the FEE, including the inspection fee, not the inspection

  • Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, Produce Safety

    LDAF

    225-935-2159producesafety@ldaf.state.la.us

    Answers

    • Federal Produce Safety Rule coverage and farm verification
    • The voluntary, non-regulatory On-Farm Readiness Review
    • Voluntary GAP and GHP audits, and the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program
    • The farm-specific agricultural water expectation, which Louisiana does not publish as a frequency

    What to askKelly Hughes is the named contact. Louisiana publishes no microgreens water testing schedule, so ask rather than assuming a number.

  • LDAF Farmers Market Nutrition Programs

    Answers

    • Free certification for vendors who elect to accept FMNP, WIC and Senior benefit payments

    Does not answer

    • A market permit. This is a benefits registration and you do not need it to trade at a market

  • Louisiana Department of Revenue

    Answers

    • That fresh fruit and vegetables for home preparation are generally exempt from STATE sales tax, while local tax can still apply
    • That you should not register for an account merely because a business exists, or when you sell only non-taxable goods

    Does not answer

    • R.S. 3:3673 as a sales tax exemption. It is a permit fee and license tax bar, and describing it as a tax exemption will not go well

  • Louisiana Secretary of State

    Answers

    • Articles of Organization on form 365 at $100, and the $30 annual report

    Does not answer

    • Parish and city occupational registration, which is separate

  • City of New Orleans, for Orleans Parish

    Answers

    • The agricultural-use license, the twice-weekly on-site operator condition, the 200 square foot residential farm stand cap and the 8am to 8pm sales window
    • Temporary farmers market licensing and Department of Health approval
    • The mobile vendor permit, with a published $305.25 fruit and vegetable street-vending fee

    What to askGet the boundary in writing. The state fee bar covers the direct SALE of your own produce; the city still regulates land use, stand size, hours and street vending. Both can be true, and no general answer is published.

Maine

Read the Maine guide

Start with DACF Quality Assurance and Regulations for the state answer, but check your TOWN first: a Food Sovereignty ordinance can change it.

  • Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Quality Assurance and Regulations Division

    DACF QAR

    207-287-3200

    Answers

    • Whether your product is still fresh produce sold essentially unchanged, and so needs no license
    • Whether cutting and clamshelling keeps you inside the fresh produce exemption
    • When a Food Processing and Manufacturing License is required, and its classification and fee
    • That a Home Food License is not required for selling only fresh produce

    Does not answer

    • Whether your town or plantation has adopted a Food Sovereignty ordinance, and what it says. That is the town clerk
    • Zoning, home occupation, signage, parking or customer traffic at your address
    • Sales tax registration and the agricultural input exemption

    What to askDescribe exactly what you do to the crop between cutting and sale, and the package and its wording. Then ask whether that stays inside the fresh produce exemption as essentially unchanged, or needs a Food Processing and Manufacturing License. In writing.

  • Your town or plantation clerk

    Answers

    • Whether this municipality has adopted a Food Sovereignty ordinance at all, which most have not
    • If it has, what that ordinance actually reaches, and whether your sale is inside it

    Does not answer

    • The state answer. An ordinance can only do what the Act permits a town to do
    • Anything about a sale outside this town

    What to askAsk this BEFORE the state, because the answer determines which regime you are in, and it can differ from the next town over. Get the ordinance text, not a summary of it.

  • Maine DACF Produce Safety Program

    207-592-2687Lindsay.Werner@maine.gov

    Answers

    • Whether your farm is covered, excluded or qualified exempt under the Produce Safety Rule
    • The free, non-regulatory On-Farm Readiness Review, open to a farm of any size
    • What an initial inspection covers, including the records review and FDA forms 482 and 4056
    • Which agricultural water requirements apply and when the federal compliance dates land

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need a state license at all, which is QAR
    • Anything a local food sovereignty ordinance does or does not cover

    What to askBook the readiness review before you take on wholesale accounts, not after a buyer asks for paperwork.

  • Maine Revenue Services

    MRS

    Answers

    • That fresh vegetables are exempt grocery staples, so a seller of only exempt microgreens needs no account for those sales
    • When a Retailer Certificate is required, and that it is a tax registration rather than a food permit
    • The Resale Certificate conditions, including an active account and $3,000 or more in annual gross sales
    • Whether a specific input qualifies under 36 M.R.S. 1760

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need a food license of any kind

  • Maine Secretary of State, Division of Corporations

    Answers

    • The domestic LLC certificate of formation at $175 and the $85 annual report
    • That a sole proprietor trading under another name files with the MUNICIPAL clerk instead, at a locally set fee

    Does not answer

    • Anything about food licensing, food safety or labeling

  • University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Food Safety

    207-581-3188extension@maine.edu

    Answers

    • Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training dates, which DACF points to
    • Post-harvest handling and cold chain practice for cut greens

    Does not answer

    • Any regulatory classification. Extension is educational, not regulatory

  • Maine Bureau of Insurance

    Answers

    • That workers' compensation is required of almost all employers, subject to agricultural, casual and seasonal alternatives
    • That a sole proprietor with no employees need not cover themself
    • That a personal auto policy may exclude business deliveries

    Does not answer

    • What limits a buyer will demand in its vendor contract

Maryland

Read the Maryland guide

Start with Nobody for raw uncut produce at a market. MDH once you process, and the Comptroller about tax.

  • Maryland Department of Health, Office of Food Protection

    MDH

    410-767-8400

    Answers

    • The Food Processing Plant license and plan review, required BEFORE construction or remodelling
    • Whether your handling makes the premises a food processing plant
    • Label review, since proposed labels go in with the application

    Does not answer

    • Retail food questions, which MDH directs to your local health department
    • The On-Farm Home Processing license as a microgreens route. Fresh microgreens are not on its permitted list

  • Maryland Department of Agriculture, Food Quality Assurance

    410-841-5769

    Answers

    • Produce Safety Rule coverage, farm inventory registration and the FREE On-Farm Readiness Review
    • GAP and GHP certification, which MDA says wholesale buyers now require

    What to askMolly Gillingham is the Food Quality Assurance Program Manager. The readiness review is educational and non-regulatory.

  • Comptroller of Maryland

    Answers

    • Whether you must collect sales tax, which turns on being a substantial grocery or market business at that location

    What to askASK BEFORE YOU OPEN. The off-premises food exemption needs at least 10 percent of food sales at the location to be grocery or market items, and a produce-only stand is not obviously one.

  • Your county health department

    Answers

    • Retail food questions, and whether the county has created a seasonal Farmers Market Sampling License

    Does not answer

    • Where a county has NOT created a sampling license, sampling is not permitted at all

  • Maryland SDAT

    Answers

    • LLC Articles of Organization at $100 and trade name filing at $25, each with a $50 expedited option

Massachusetts

Read the Massachusetts guide

Start with Your city or town Local Board of Health, which issues the retail food permit for the municipality where you sell.

  • Your Local Board of Health

    LBOH

    Answers

    • Whether your direct retail operation needs a Retail Food Code permit, and issuing it
    • What that permit costs here, since fees and forms are set locally
    • How often you will be inspected and by whom
    • How a living, uncut tray is classified, especially if customers harvest it at your stand
    • Any local residential-kitchen registration or cap policy

    Does not answer

    • The DPH Food Manufacturing Code permit for wholesale packing, which is a STATE permit
    • Whether another town will accept this permit at its market or event
    • Federal FSMA coverage or your agricultural water requirements

    What to askAsk them to confirm in writing that the Retail Food Code permit is the one you need, what the fee is, and how they classify a living uncut tray. Then ask the same of every other town you intend to sell in.

  • Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Food Protection Program

    DPH FPP

    FPP.DPH@state.ma.us

    Answers

    • Whether packing for restaurants or grocers puts you under 105 CMR 500 and needs a Food Manufacturing Code permit
    • Where the retail and wholesale line actually falls for your setup
    • That a Certified Food Protection Manager is not required for farm retail sale of non-TCS produce
    • That produce is handled separately from cottage food

    Does not answer

    • Issuing your local retail food permit, or telling you its fee
    • Municipal zoning, home occupation or signage rules

    What to askThis is also the escalation route when a local board and the state guidance appear to disagree. Ask at what point packaging for a wholesale customer makes you a manufacturer under 105 CMR 500 rather than a retail establishment under 105 CMR 590.

  • Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, Produce Safety Program

    MDAR

    774-419-1801

    Answers

    • Whether your farm is covered by the Produce Safety Rule and 330 CMR 34
    • What agricultural water requirements apply to your source and your coverage status
    • Regulatory produce inspections and voluntary audits
    • How the Commonwealth Quality Program fits a grocery buyer's vendor standard

    Does not answer

    • Issuing any retail or manufacturing food permit
    • Local board fees, inspection schedules or zoning

  • MDAR Produce Safety Education and Technical Assistance

    857-292-1872eric.stenfors@mass.gov

    Answers

    • Free one-to-one on-farm technical assistance
    • A Produce Safety Rule walk-through before a regulatory inspection
    • A Commonwealth Quality Program pre-audit

    Does not answer

    • Issuing a permit, a license or an approval of any kind
    • Deciding whether your setup is retail or wholesale

    What to askAsk for the walk-through before your first inspection. It is free and it is not enforcement.

  • Massachusetts Department of Revenue

    DOR

    Answers

    • That food for human consumption is generally exempt, so unprepared microgreens sold as food are ordinarily exempt
    • Whether a prepared or value-added version of your product changes that
    • Whether a specific input qualifies as used directly and exclusively in agricultural production
    • When Form ST-4 is and is not relevant to you

    Does not answer

    • Any food permit question
    • Your municipal business certificate fee, which the town clerk sets

Michigan

Read the Michigan guide

Start with MDARD Food and Dairy Division.

  • Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Food and Dairy Division

    MDARD

    517-284-5771

    Answers

    • Whether your operation needs a food establishment license, and which one
    • Whether cutting, washing, mixing or repacking has moved you out of the whole produce exemption
    • A label review before you print packaging

    Does not answer

    • Zoning, insurance, and sales tax. Those are three other desks.

    What to askDescribe the crop, the harvest, the packaging and the channel, then ask for a written determination of which license category you fall in.

  • MDARD customer service

    800-292-3939

    Answers

    • General routing when you do not know which desk owns your question

  • MDARD Produce Safety Program

    Answers

    • Produce Safety Rule questions for Michigan farms
    • The free, confidential On-Farm Readiness Review, run with MSU Extension and Conservation District technicians

    What to askAsk for an On-Farm Readiness Review. It is voluntary and non regulatory, so it is not an inspection.

  • MDARD Right to Farm Program

    Answers

    • Whether your operation qualifies as a farm under the Act, and a voluntary GAAMPs review

    Does not answer

    • Zoning. Right to Farm is a nuisance provision, it does not displace your local zoning or any food safety duty.

  • Michigan Department of Treasury

    Answers

    • Whether your sales are taxable, and whether an input purchase qualifies for the agricultural production exemption

  • LARA, Corporations Division

    Answers

    • Entity formation and current filing fees

    Does not answer

    • Food licensing, which is separate and does not follow from registering a business

  • Michigan State University Extension

    Answers

    • Produce safety training and technical help, free and not enforcement

  • Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services

    DIFS

    877-999-6442

    Answers

    • Insurance law questions

    Does not answer

    • What a specific buyer will demand in a contract. Ask the buyer.

Minnesota

Read the Minnesota guide

Start with Nobody, if you grew it on land you occupy and cultivate. MDA the moment farm status is lost.

Mississippi

Read the Mississippi guide

Start with MSDH Food Protection, which decides whether your process is still raw farm produce or has become an establishment charging for food prepared or served.

  • Mississippi State Department of Health, Division of Food Protection

    MSDH

    601-364-2832

    Answers

    • Whether your growing, cutting and packing counts as food prepared or served
    • Whether washing, mixing or repacking pushes you into the annual Food Permit
    • Which permit category and risk level applies, and the plan review requirement
    • Whether a certified food manager is required for your setup

    Does not answer

    • Produce Safety Rule coverage, readiness reviews and produce farm inspections, which are MDAC
    • Whether a farmers market is MDAC certified
    • Sales tax registration or which of your sales are taxable

    What to askGive them the process flow from seeding to delivery and ask whether any step makes you an establishment charging for food prepared or served. In writing.

  • Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce, Produce Safety Division

    MDAC

    601-359-1100BrandonT@mdac.ms.gov

    Answers

    • Whether your farm is covered by the Produce Safety Rule or qualifies for an exemption
    • The On-Farm Readiness Review, and what it costs, which is not published either way
    • Agricultural water assessment expectations for a covered farm

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need an MSDH food permit
    • How often produce farms are inspected, which is not published

    What to askAsk whether the readiness review is free before you book it. No price is published, and that is not the same as it being free.

  • MDAC Mississippi Certified Farmers Markets Program

    601-359-1100

    Answers

    • Whether a named farmers market currently holds MDAC certification, and whether it is in date
    • What the certification does and does not make sales tax exempt
    • That certified markets must recertify annually

    Does not answer

    • An individual market's stall fee, application or vendor conditions, which the market manager sets
    • Whether you need a food permit

    What to askAsk BEFORE you treat sales at a market as exempt. Name the market and its town, and confirm the certification is current, because somebody else's certificate is what decides your tax position.

  • Mississippi Department of Revenue

    DOR

    Answers

    • Whether a given sale is a producer sale made other than through an established place of business
    • Whether the 7 percent standard rate or the 5 percent grocery food rate applies
    • Whether you must register before selling at a non-certified established market
    • Which farm inputs and containers qualify for the agricultural exemption

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need a food permit or a certified food manager
    • Whether a market holds MDAC certification

    What to askList your channels separately, roadside, direct delivery and each market, because the answer differs between them even though the crop does not.

Missouri

Read the Missouri guide

Start with Your LOCAL public health agency, not the state. DHSS does not issue the permit.

  • Your Local Public Health Agency

    Answers

    • Whether your activity is a retail food establishment needing a permit and pre-opening inspection
    • The permit title, the fee and the inspection frequency, all of which are set locally
    • Any local date, lot or producer labeling requirements

    What to askCall the agency where you PACK, not just where you live. Missouri says local jurisdictions may be STRICTER than the state, and a permit does not travel with a mobile booth.

  • DHSS Bureau of Environmental Health Services

    573-751-6095RetailFood@health.mo.gov

    Answers

    • Routing you to the right local agency, and general retail food questions

    Does not answer

    • Issuing the permit. That is the LPHA

  • Missouri Department of Agriculture, Produce Safety Program

    Answers

    • Federal Produce Safety Rule coverage and inspection scheduling
    • FREE water testing, and the free confidential On-Farm Readiness Review

    What to askMDA says its FSMA inspections and readiness reviews cost the grower nothing, and it offers free water testing. Use all three.

  • Missouri Department of Revenue

    Answers

    • The RSMo 144.527 farmers market exemption, which CEASES at $25,000 in annual market sales
    • The agricultural input exemption and Form 149

  • Missouri Department of Agriculture, legal office

    573-751-5633

    Answers

    • Right to farm questions, which are a nuisance defense and fact-specific

Montana

Read the Montana guide

Start with Two desks that are not interchangeable. Produce licensing sits with the Department of Agriculture; retail food licensing sits with DPHHS and is executed locally by county environmental health, which is who answers the question about cutting.

  • Montana Department of Agriculture, Produce Safety Program

    MDA

    406-444-0131foodsafety@mt.gov

    Answers

    • Whether you need the Produce Dealer License, which applies to a grower retailing their own Montana grown produce above $25,000 in annual gross retail sales
    • That the license is $50, nonrefundable, and expires December 31 of the year issued rather than on an anniversary
    • That the scope is one license per place of business, and that vehicles count as places of business
    • That the fee is credited toward the Produce Act assessment rather than stacked on top of it
    • Your status under the federal Produce Safety Rule, and the free On-Farm Readiness Review

    Does not answer

    • Whether cutting microgreens at harvest is a value-adding procedure, which is the DPHHS and county question
    • Retail food establishment licensing of any kind
    • Property tax classification of agricultural land

    What to askAsk MDA directly how it applies the vehicle provision to a single grower delivering their own crop in their own van, because only the department can give the operational answer. Note the calendar expiry: a license bought in October runs about three months, so a grower crossing the threshold late in the season should budget for a renewal arriving almost immediately.

  • Your county environmental health department, found through the DPHHS county and tribal directory

    County environmental health

    Answers

    • A written determination on whether your specific packing process keeps you inside the raw agricultural commodity exclusion
    • Whether an annual retail food establishment license follows from how you handle the crop
    • What the local office expects on cut height, rinsing, containers, storage temperature and hold time

    Does not answer

    • The Produce Dealer License or the $25,000 threshold, which are MDA
    • Any tax question

    What to askThis is the determination worth getting first, and it is free. MCA 50-50-102 excludes a grower of a raw agricultural commodity from the retail food establishment definition, but it puts a commodity that has been peeled, diced, cut, blanched or otherwise subjected to value-adding procedures outside that exclusion. Whether harvest cutting lands on the value-adding side is not answered by any source behind this page, so describe your real process in writing and get a written classification back. A written answer is portable when a buyer, an insurer or a different county asks later; verbal reassurance from a friendly sanitarian is worth nothing eighteen months on. Do NOT rely on MCA 50-50-202, which is headed exemptions but covers government establishments and nonmonetary exchanges, not produce growers.

  • Montana Department of Revenue

    Answers

    • That Montana has no general sales tax and no state seller permit for in-state produce sales
    • That a Montana Business Registry resale certificate is a courtesy document you hand to an out-of-state vendor for your purchases, not a permit for your sales, and that the vendor is not obliged to accept it
    • That selling across a state line can put you inside the destination state's economic nexus and product taxability rules
    • The agricultural land classification, its under 160 acre production test, the fixed $1,500 annual gross income figure and the March 1 application deadline

    Does not answer

    • Any licensing or food safety question

    What to askBeing a Montana business does not travel with you. If you ship, ask about the receiving state rather than assuming Montana's no-sales-tax position follows the parcel.

Nebraska

Read the Nebraska guide

Start with NDA Food Safety, which decides whether your format is still a produce stand under 81-2,245.01(2) or a permitted establishment.

  • Nebraska Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Consumer Protection

    NDA

    402-471-3422agr.foodsafety@nebraska.gov

    Answers

    • Whether your product is still a produce stand offering whole, uncut fresh fruits and vegetables under 81-2,245.01(2)
    • Whether a live tray sold with growing medium falls inside that exclusion
    • Whether you need a food establishment permit or a food processing plant permit under 81-2,270
    • Plan review before construction, conversion or remodelling, and the pre-opening inspection
    • Which water sampling schedule applies to your nonpublic supply

    Does not answer

    • Zoning, home occupation rules, signage or greenhouse size limits, which are city and county
    • What a grocery chain will require of a vendor, which is a private contract

    What to askDescribe exactly what you grow, how you harvest it and how you package it, then ask whether it remains a produce stand under 81-2,245.01(2) or needs a permit under 81-2,270. In writing.

  • NDA Produce Safety Program

    402-471-3422agr.produce.safety@nebraska.gov

    Answers

    • Whether your farm is covered by the federal Produce Safety Rule
    • A free, voluntary On-Farm Readiness Review, including for farms the rule does NOT cover
    • Harvest and post-harvest agricultural water standards, and the annual pre-harvest assessment

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need a state food establishment or food processing plant permit
    • Buyer audit requirements such as GAP or GFSI, which are commercial terms

  • Nebraska Department of Revenue

    800-742-7474

    Answers

    • Whether your sales are exempt food and food ingredients rather than taxable prepared food
    • Whether you need a sales tax permit at all, since one is required only for taxable sales
    • How adding grow kits or merchandise changes the answer
    • Form 13 resale and exempt purchase certificates, including Section B for commercial agriculture equipment

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need a food permit, which is NDA

  • Nebraska Secretary of State, Business Services

    Answers

    • Domestic LLC certificate of organization at $100 online or $110 in office
    • Assumed trade name registration at the same fees

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need an entity at all, since a sole proprietor may sell

  • City of Lincoln Planning and Development Services

    Answers

    • Whether your address qualifies for onsite sales of onsite unprocessed produce
    • The 8 days per calendar month and 30 days per year sales limits
    • The 2 square foot sign limit and the 500 square foot greenhouse cap

    Does not answer

    • Anything about a state food permit, which is NDA
    • Rules for any address outside Lincoln. This is an EXAMPLE of how specific local can get, not the Nebraska rule

Nevada

Read the Nevada guide

Start with NDA for the Producer Certificate, then YOUR COUNTY health authority. Nevada is county-run and a Clark County rule is not the Nevada rule.

  • Nevada Department of Agriculture, Producer Certification

    NDA

    775-353-3601NVProducers@agri.nv.gov

    Answers

    • The Producer Certificate, which is the credential for a Nevada grower's own crop in its natural and unprocessed state
    • The $50 initial fee including a farm inspection, and the $30 annual renewal
    • That a Producer Certificate holder does not also need a Produce Vendor Certificate
    • The traceability records expected: farm location, crops, harvest amounts and seasons
    • How live trays are treated, which is not published

    Does not answer

    • Your county health permit, which is a separate authority entirely
    • Anything specific to Clark County, which is Southern Nevada Health District

    What to askThe certificate is what lets NAC 446.980 except you from the produce stand and farmers market health permit, so get it first and ask how it applies to your exact product.

  • Your county health authority

    Answers

    • Whether NAC 446.980 excepts your certificated produce sales from a health permit at your market
    • Whether the authority is restricting sampling or sale on public health grounds, which it may do
    • What happens once you move past raw produce into a food establishment

    Does not answer

    • The Producer Certificate itself, which is NDA
    • Another county's answer. Nevada devolves this, so ask where you actually sell

    What to askAsk the county you SELL in, not just the one you grow in, and ask each county separately if you work more than one market.

  • Southern Nevada Health District, for Clark County only

    SNHD

    702-759-1258

    Answers

    • Clark County food establishment permits and the plan review requirement for new, remodelled and change-of-ownership applications
    • Label review for products durably prepackaged for off-site sale, including wholesale, grocery and shipped packages, on 702-759-0500
    • The Food Handler Safety Training Card, $25 and valid three years as of 1 January 2026

    Does not answer

    • Anywhere outside Clark County. Washoe County is Northern Nevada Public Health, and other counties have their own arrangements again
    • The Producer Certificate, which is NDA
    • City of Las Vegas home occupation and zoning rules, which are separate again

  • City of Las Vegas, home occupation standards

    Answers

    • The home occupation limit of no more than two customers at one time, inside Las Vegas city limits
    • The prohibition on signage and advertising for a home occupation
    • Whether a greenhouse or nursery-style operation is permitted in your zoning district

    Does not answer

    • Anything in Henderson, North Las Vegas, unincorporated Clark County, Reno, Sparks or any rural county. This is an EXAMPLE of the local layer, not the Nevada rule
    • Food safety, which is your health authority

  • NDA Good Agricultural Certification Program and FSMA

    775-353-3601NVProducers@agri.nv.gov

    Answers

    • Program review, technical assistance, training and an On-Farm Readiness Review
    • That GAP and GHP audits are voluntary, though buyers often require proof of a food safety program
    • Produce Safety Rule education, delivered with the University of Nevada Reno Desert Farming Initiative

    Does not answer

    • A published fee for the readiness review, which does not exist. Ask when you book

  • Nevada Department of Taxation

    Answers

    • That farmers market vendors selling only unprepared fresh produce do not collect sales tax
    • The registration requirement for a vendor at more than two one-time events in 12 months
    • That an EIN and a business license are prerequisites when registering for a tax permit

    Does not answer

    • Any food safety or certification question

New Hampshire

Read the New Hampshire guide

Start with DHHS Food Protection, UNLESS you sell in one of the fifteen self-inspecting cities and towns, where that town's health officer decides instead.

  • New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Food Protection Section

    DHHS Food Protection

    603-271-4589dhhs.foodprotection@dhhs.nh.gov

    Answers

    • Whether your stand falls outside the retail food store definition at RSA 143-A:3, VII, which excludes roadside markets and farm stands
    • Whether paragraph IV's "roadside stand" pulls you back in as a food service establishment, which is the genuinely contested question here
    • Whether a cutting, washing, packing or holding setup is a licensed establishment, and which class it lands in
    • The two classes closest to a grower, F-3 retail store with no preparation area and F-7 farm store, both $150 a year
    • Whether a certified food protection manager is required, since He-P 2303.02 exempts F-3 and F-7
    • The 45-day floor plan review before construction, conversion or remodelling

    Does not answer

    • Licensing or inspection in any of the fifteen self-inspecting municipalities
    • Municipal zoning, home occupation or site plan approval
    • Whether a living tray is nursery stock needing a plant dealer license

    What to askAsk about the STAND and the PACKING SPACE as two separate questions, and get it in writing before you sign a lease. Name the exact activities: whether you cut, wash, pack, hold, or sell anyone else's produce.

  • The fifteen self-inspecting cities and towns

    Answers

    • Food establishment licensing and inspection in Bedford, Berlin, Claremont, Concord, Derry, Dover, Exeter, Keene, Manchester, Merrimack, Nashua, Plaistow, Portsmouth, Rochester and Salem
    • Whether a farmers market inside that municipality adds a local health condition
    • Local sanitary regulations made by the town health officer under RSA 147:1

    Does not answer

    • Anything outside their own municipal boundary
    • Federal Produce Safety Rule coverage, which is NHDAMF and FDA

    What to askIf your stand, market or delivery route sits in one of the fifteen, call that town health officer BEFORE the state. Under RSA 143-A:5 they license and inspect in place of DHHS, so theirs is the answer that governs.

  • New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food, Produce Safety Program

    NHDAMF

    603-271-3551

    Answers

    • Federal Produce Safety Rule coverage, through a free and confidential farm survey
    • That microgreens are produce and are listed separately from sprouts
    • Agricultural water expectations for a covered non-sprout farm
    • Whether a living tray of a named crop needs a plant dealer license, via Plant Industry on the same number

    Does not answer

    • Food establishment licensing, which is DHHS or your self-inspecting town

    What to askBook the free confidential farm survey to fix your coverage status, and ask separately whether a readiness review is available, since none is published under that name.

  • New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration

    DRA

    Answers

    • That there is no general sales tax on a raw microgreens sale, and no seller's permit or resale certificate for it
    • The 8.5 percent Meals and Rooms Tax on meals of $0.36 or more, and the operator license needed before selling any prepared meal

    Does not answer

    • Any food licensing question

  • UNH Cooperative Extension

    603-787-6944

    Answers

    • Whether your farm is covered by the Produce Safety Rule
    • Farm water use and the records a produce farm should keep
    • Workshops and one-to-one technical assistance as an NHDAMF sub-awardee

    Does not answer

    • Any licensing decision. Extension advises, it does not license or inspect

New Jersey

Read the New Jersey guide

Start with Your LOCAL board of health for cut greens. NJDA Nursery Inspection first if live trays are the plan.

  • Your local board of health or health authority

    Answers

    • The retail food establishment permit, which is issued and enforced locally rather than by the state
    • Inspection frequency, which is risk and local-program specific
    • Whether a food protection certification applies to your operation
    • Your actual label, since the state guide covers packaged value-added foods rather than raw produce

    Does not answer

    • Zoning. A food permit is not a zoning approval and the two offices do not talk to each other

    What to askAsk the authority where the FARM is, and again for every market or event you attend. They are not necessarily the same body.

  • NJDA Nursery Inspection Program

    609-498-4020sarah.katzenbach@ag.nj.gov

    Answers

    • Whether a LIVE, UNCUT tray is nursery stock or food, which is the one genuinely unresolved question in this series
    • Nursery and plant dealer certification, if a tray is ever determined to be nursery stock
    • Out-of-state nursery stock shipping, which needs a current inspection certificate on file

    What to askSarah Katzenbach is the Program Manager. NJDA defines nursery stock to EXCLUDE herbaceous annuals, which microgreens are, so the definition reads against it, but NJDA has published no determination. Ask for one IN WRITING before building a business on live trays.

  • NJDOH Food and Drug Safety Program

    609-588-3123

    Answers

    • The License to Operate a Wholesale Food-Cosmetic Establishment, needed once you sell for resale
    • Whether your packing operation is a food processing plant under Chapter 24

    Does not answer

    • The retail permit, which is your local authority

  • NJDA On-Farm Produce Safety

    856-839-3388

    Answers

    • Federal Produce Safety Rule coverage and regulatory inspections
    • The On-Farm Readiness Review and voluntary audit resources

    What to askNJDA also runs a voluntary farm audit program, which is the practical route to satisfying regional and national buyer assurance.

  • New Jersey Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services

    Answers

    • Entity formation and trade name registration

    Does not answer

    • No single universal registration fee was published in the sources reviewed for this guide. Ask rather than trusting a quoted figure

New Mexico

Read the New Mexico guide

Start with The NMED Food Program, which sits in the ENVIRONMENT Department rather than health or agriculture, unless your address is in Bernalillo County.

  • New Mexico Environment Department, Food Program

    NMED

    505-222-9500food.program@state.nm.us

    Answers

    • Whether you fall inside the 7.6.2.7(B)(5)(b) exclusion for whole raw agricultural products, or a produce stand selling only whole, uncut fresh fruits and vegetables
    • Whether cut, washed, bagged microgreens are still a whole raw agricultural product
    • Whether you need a food establishment permit under 7.6.2.11 NMAC or a food processing plant permit
    • The $200 permit fee, the $25 per event temporary, the $175 late fee and the $500 reinspection fee
    • Label elements including metric net quantity and the foreign-language rule

    Does not answer

    • Anything inside Bernalillo County or Albuquerque, where NMED states it has NO food program jurisdiction
    • Produce Safety Rule coverage and training, which is NMDA
    • Nursery stock licensing

    What to askGive them the whole workflow, seed source, growing medium, harvest method, wash water, packaging, temperature, storage and buyer, then ask for the classification in writing.

  • City of Albuquerque Environmental Health Department

    Answers

    • The food permit question for any operation in Albuquerque, where NMED says it has no jurisdiction
    • Whether the city treats your cut and packed product as a permitted operation
    • The city growers' market raw-produce permit and processed-food permit, and which member markets one permit covers

    Does not answer

    • Anything outside the city and Bernalillo County, which is NMED

    What to askIf your address is here, this is your FIRST call, not NMED. That is the second surprise on this page.

  • New Mexico Department of Agriculture, Produce Safety Program

    NMDA

    575-646-3007

    Answers

    • Whether your farm is covered by the FDA Produce Safety Rule and at what level
    • Grower training and food safety resources under the FDA cooperative agreement
    • Agricultural water expectations for a covered farm

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need a state food permit, which is NMED
    • Whether a cut, bagged pack is still raw produce

    What to askAsk whether an On-Farm Readiness Review or water assessment help is available and whether it is free. NMDA does not publish either way.

  • New Mexico Department of Agriculture, Nursery Program

    Answers

    • Whether a tray you market for planting or decorative use is nursery stock under NMSA 76-5-12
    • Nursery and dealer licensing and inspection fees

    Does not answer

    • Whether a living tray sold as FOOD needs a food permit, which is NMED

  • New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department

    1-866-285-2996

    Answers

    • Registering for a New Mexico Business Tax Identification Number, which carries no fee
    • How to report a producer's own unprocessed agricultural product under NMSA 7-9-18 on the CRS return

    Does not answer

    • Whether your product counts as processed for food-rule purposes

New York

Read the New York guide

Start with NYSDAM Division of Food Safety and Inspection, and assume Article 20-C applies until they say otherwise.

  • NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets, Division of Food Safety and Inspection

    NYSDAM

    518-457-4492

    Answers

    • Whether your workflow needs an Article 20-C Food Processing Establishment License
    • Whether the 251-z-2 farm exclusion covers you, which turns on doing SOLELY harvesting, storing and distributing
    • How live uncut trays are classified, which is not published
    • Label review BEFORE you print, which the Department offers free
    • Premises and workflow review before a fit-out

    Does not answer

    • New York City, which runs its own health code and permit regime
    • Municipal zoning and home occupation rules, which are your city, town or village

    What to askDescribe whether you CUT. The Department lists slicing vegetables and repacking ready-to-eat vegetables as processing, so that one fact decides the answer. Get the determination in writing.

  • NYSDAM Produce Safety Program

    518-457-3846

    Answers

    • Federal Produce Safety Rule coverage in New York, and the coverage survey
    • The CONFIDENTIAL on-farm readiness review, which is not an inspection
    • Agricultural water expectations and the state water lab list

    What to askBook the readiness review. It is confidential and free, and it creates no record against you.

  • NYSDAM Farm Products

    518-457-2090

    Answers

    • Farmers market vendor questions and farm product standards

  • NYS Department of Taxation and Finance

    Answers

    • Whether you need a Certificate of Authority, and the farmer exemption for selling only exempt food

    Does not answer

    • The sales tax farmer rule is a TAX rule. It is not an Article 20-C exemption and it licenses nothing

  • NYS Department of State, corporations

    Answers

    • LLC formation at $200, the newspaper publication requirement, and the $50 Certificate of Publication

    Does not answer

    • Assumed name certificates, which are filed with your county clerk

  • NYS Workers’ Compensation Board

    Answers

    • That cover is mandatory for most employers with one or more employees

  • Cornell Cooperative Extension

    607-255-2237

    Answers

    • County-level production support, and Harvest NY has published microgreens work

North Carolina

Read the North Carolina guide

Start with NCDA&CS Food and Drug Protection Division, whose published guidance, not a statute, is what says a farmer selling their own crop needs no license.

  • North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Food and Drug Protection Division, Food Program

    NCDA&CS Food Program

    984-236-4820

    Answers

    • Whether your model still counts as selling commodities grown on your farm
    • Where cutting and packing your own crop crosses into opening, repacking or processing that needs Food Program review
    • Whether a living, uncut tray is treated any differently from a cut clamshell
    • Whether a food handler certificate applies to your specific business model
    • What a package of cut microgreens must carry, and whether a keep refrigerated statement is expected

    Does not answer

    • Restaurant and food service permits, which are the county health department
    • Sales tax, qualifying farmer status and resale certificates, which are NCDOR
    • Zoning, home occupation rules and whether you may run a grow room at your address

    What to askDescribe the operation exactly, growing your own microgreens and selling them as living trays or cut in clamshells, to consumers or to restaurants, then ask whether that is selling a commodity grown on your farm or whether it is opening, repacking or processing that needs Food Program review. Get it in writing.

  • NCDA&CS Produce Safety Program

    919-219-4716sarah.cope@ncagr.gov

    Answers

    • Whether your farm is covered, qualified exempt or not covered under the federal Produce Safety Rule
    • What agricultural water testing and corrective action your operation should plan for
    • The free, voluntary, confidential On-Farm Readiness Review
    • The microgreens-specific produce safety fact sheet, and that microgreens are not sprouts

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need a state license at all, which is the Food Program
    • Label review for a packaged product

    What to askAsk for your coverage determination and book the readiness review BEFORE you approach wholesale buyers, not after they ask for paperwork.

  • North Carolina Department of Revenue

    NCDOR

    Answers

    • That fresh, live or uncooked vegetables sold by the producer are exempt from sales tax
    • Whether you meet the $10,000 qualifying farmer test, on the preceding year or a three year average
    • Whether conditional farmer status is available while you are starting out
    • Which production inputs the exemption certificate covers

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need a food license
    • Federal FSMA coverage figures, which are a different test entirely

  • NC State Extension, with the NCDA&CS Produce Safety Program

    Answers

    • How the On-Farm Readiness Review works, and that it is educational, non-regulatory and confidential
    • Produce Safety Alliance grower training dates and what the certificate is worth to a buyer
    • Practical produce safety record keeping for a small grower

    Does not answer

    • Any licensing, permitting or enforcement decision
    • A written regulatory determination, which only NCDA&CS can give you

North Dakota

Read the North Dakota guide

Start with North Dakota Health and Human Services, Food and Lodging, UNLESS one of eight approved local public health units licenses you instead under NDCC 23-09-16.

  • North Dakota Health and Human Services, Food and Lodging

    HHS Food and Lodging

    701-328-1291

    Answers

    • Whether your address is licensed by the state or by one of eight local public health units, using the food jurisdiction map
    • Whether selling only your own whole, uncut raw greens keeps you inside the adopted Food Code produce exclusion
    • Whether cutting, clamshelling and holding for restaurants makes you a Food Processing Plant under NDCC 23-09-01(7)
    • Which of the Food Establishment and Food Processing Plant licenses applies, and the inspection process

    Does not answer

    • Whether a living tray counts as nursery stock, which is a plant industry question for the Department of Agriculture
    • Federal Produce Safety Rule coverage, which sits with the Department of Agriculture
    • Anything in NDAC 33-33-10-01, -02 or -03, which were REPEALED effective 1 October 2021 and which aggregators still serve as current law

    What to askAsk three things in one letter: is this address yours or a local unit's; do you agree whole uncut trays sold direct fall inside the Food Code exclusion; and does cutting and packing for restaurants make me a Food Processing Plant. In writing.

  • North Dakota Department of Agriculture, Local Foods and Produce Safety

    NDDA

    701-328-2659jnieters@nd.gov

    Answers

    • Whether your farm is covered by the federal Produce Safety Rule
    • Produce Safety Alliance grower training and the training duty on a covered farm
    • Whether any readiness assistance is currently offered
    • Plant industry status of a living tray, on the Department's main line 701-328-2231

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need a Food Establishment or Food Processing Plant license

  • NDSU Extension

    Answers

    • Which selling activities Extension says need a food license, including cut, sliced or chopped fresh produce
    • Good agricultural practices, including well and surface water testing recommendations
    • Who your county Extension educator is

    Does not answer

    • Issuing or interpreting a license, which is HHS or your local health unit

  • North Dakota Office of State Tax Commissioner

    Answers

    • That fresh microgreens sold for home consumption are exempt food rather than taxable prepared food
    • Whether you must register for a sales and use tax permit, which turns on whether you make taxable sales

    Does not answer

    • Anything about food licensing, inspection or labeling

Ohio

Read the Ohio guide

Start with ODA Division of Food Safety.

Oklahoma

Read the Oklahoma guide

Start with ODAFF Food Safety, because a grower selling their own raw crop is a produce farm and never a food establishment.

  • Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, Food Safety and Produce Safety

    ODAFF

    405-522-6119

    Answers

    • Whether your microgreens are treated as produce rather than sprouts
    • Whether harvested leaves and live trays both stay inside the produce category
    • Oklahoma Produce Farm Registration and its annual renewal once you are federally covered
    • What a packaged raw microgreens label must carry, for your exact package
    • The free on-farm readiness review, and scheduling the annual produce safety inspection

    Does not answer

    • Whether your washing and packing room needs a food establishment license, which is OSDH
    • Whether your seed, trays and lights are tax exempt, which is the Tax Commission
    • City zoning, home occupation rules or municipal food licenses

    What to askAsk them to confirm in writing that your crop remains whole, uncut and unprocessed produce under 63 O.S. 1-1118(A)(1), and to name exactly which label elements they require.

  • Oklahoma State Department of Health, Consumer Health Service

    OSDH

    405-426-8250

    Answers

    • Whether a specific washing, cutting or packaging step turns you into a food establishment or food manufacturer
    • Classification of your premises, done through the county health department
    • Whether plan review is required before you build, convert or remodel, and the $425 fee
    • Licensing for reselling another grower's produce at a market

    Does not answer

    • Produce Farm Registration or the produce safety inspection, which are ODAFF
    • Whether your greens qualify as produce in the first place, which is ODAFF

    What to askGive them the process flow from tray to delivery and ask at which step you stop being a produce farm and become a food establishment, and whether that step needs plan review BEFORE you build.

  • Oklahoma Tax Commission

    OTC

    Answers

    • Whether an indoor rack operation qualifies for the Agricultural Exemption Permit under 68 O.S. 1358.1, given that OAC 710:65 EXCLUDES commercial greenhouses from qualifying farming
    • Whether your direct sales fall under the OAC 710:65-13-19 producer exemption
    • Whether you need a sales and use tax permit for your channels

    Does not answer

    • Any food safety, licensing or labeling question

    What to askThe commercial greenhouse exclusion is the trap here. Describe the indoor racks explicitly and get the answer in writing.

  • Oklahoma State University Extension, Robert M. Kerr Food and Agricultural Products Center

    Answers

    • Building a written food safety plan for a fresh produce operation
    • Where an on-farm packing shed stops being a packing shed and starts altering the raw commodity
    • Produce Safety Alliance grower training, run with ODAFF

    Does not answer

    • Issuing, approving or waiving any license, registration or permit

Oregon

Read the Oregon guide

Start with Nobody, if you grew it and sell it direct. ODA Food Safety the moment you do not.

  • Oregon Department of Agriculture, Food Safety Program

    ODA

    503-986-4550

    Answers

    • Whether your operation fits the Farm Direct Marketing exemption
    • Which license category applies once you sell wholesale, retail or start processing
    • Whether a live tray is treated differently from cut greens, which is not published
    • Water testing and approval for a licensed facility on a private well, spring or surface source

    Does not answer

    • Food handler cards, which local environmental health issues for the establishments they license
    • Parcel zoning and home occupation rules, which are your city or county planning office

    What to askThe Farm Direct program has its own number, 503-986-4720. Ask BEFORE you supply a restaurant: that is not a sale to the end retail consumer and the exemption may not carry.

  • ODA food safety licensing

    Answers

    • Retail Food Establishment and Food Processing and Warehousing categories
    • Plan review and approval, which come BEFORE construction or remodelling

    What to askContact the inspector at least two weeks before you intend to open. ODA asks for that lead time.

  • Oregon Department of Revenue

    Answers

    • That Oregon has no general sales, use or transaction tax, so there is no seller permit to hold

    Does not answer

    • The Business Registry Resale Certificate, which is for buying from out-of-state sellers and is not a sales permit
    • Destination-state tax on interstate shipments, which is the receiving state’s question

  • Oregon Secretary of State, Corporation Division

    503-986-2200

    Answers

    • Assumed business name registration, and that a sole proprietor using real and true names need not register

    Does not answer

    • The current filing fee was NOT published on the page reviewed for this guide. Ask rather than trusting a quoted figure
    • There is no general Oregon business license to obtain

  • OSU Extension Small Farms

    Answers

    • Farm direct marketing guidance written specifically for raw agricultural products

  • Oregon Division of Financial Regulation

    888-877-4894

    Answers

    • Insurance regulation questions

    Does not answer

    • Whether your operation must carry cover, which is a question for a broker or attorney

Pennsylvania

Read the Pennsylvania guide

Start with PDA Bureau of Food Safety, unless you sell in one of the seven county jurisdictions, in which case start with the county.

  • Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Food Safety and Laboratory Services

    PDA

    717-787-4315RA-AGPLANREVIEW@pa.gov

    Answers

    • Whether your stand falls inside the raw agricultural commodity exemption from the retail license
    • Food Establishment Registration for the site where you pack, hold or distribute, at $35 a year
    • Whether washing or mixing has moved you out of "unprocessed, not ready-to-eat"
    • Whether cut microgreens are TCS, which decides a certified food manager question

    Does not answer

    • Retail licensing in Allegheny, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Erie, Montgomery or Philadelphia
    • Municipal zoning for a home growing setup

    What to askAsk about the packing site and the sales stand as two separate questions. The exemption and the registration answer different things, and it is normal to need one and not the other. Program Specialists are on 717-666-2568 and 717-787-5107.

  • PDA Produce Safety Program

    717-934-0772geberle@pa.gov

    Answers

    • Federal Produce Safety Rule coverage in Pennsylvania
    • The free, voluntary, confidential and non-regulatory On-Farm Readiness Review
    • The qualified exempt labeling option, name and address on the label or at point of purchase

    What to askGreg Eberle is the named specialist. Schedule the readiness review through 717-787-4315.

  • The seven county health jurisdictions

    Answers

    • Retail food licensing in Allegheny, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Erie, Montgomery and Philadelphia

    Does not answer

    • Anything PDA decided. There is no reciprocity in either direction, so a PDA answer does not travel here

    What to askIf your market is in one of these seven, call the county health department BEFORE PDA. They can reach a different licensing result on the same facts.

  • Pennsylvania Department of Revenue

    Answers

    • Whether your product and delivery charges are taxable, and whether you need a sales tax license

    What to askThe tax treatment of freshly cut microgreens is not published. Ask about the product, the delivery charge and any ready-to-eat element separately.

  • Pennsylvania Department of State, business filings

    Answers

    • Fictitious name registration at $70, the $125 Certificate of Organization, and the $7 annual report

    Does not answer

    • A sole proprietor trading under their own proper name files nothing here

  • Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry

    Answers

    • Workers compensation, which is required once you employ anyone, including part-time and family employees

Puerto Rico

Read the Puerto Rico guide

Start with The Departamento de Salud food safety section, which decides whether a microgreens operation counts as an establecimiento publico and therefore needs a licencia sanitaria.

  • Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico, Division de Salud Ambiental, Seccion de Higiene y Seguridad de Alimentos

    Salud Ambiental

    787-765-2929 ext. 3204

    Answers

    • Whether your operation is an establecimiento publico that needs a licencia sanitaria, or falls inside the Food Code produce stand exclusion for whole, uncut produce
    • What the licencia sanitaria costs, how the pre-license inspection works, and how to apply through Salud Digital
    • Whether cut microgreens are treated as a TCS food, which decides cold holding at 41F and date marking
    • Whether a food handler card is required of a raw produce grower, and which workers it would cover
    • How often a licensed operation is inspected, and what triggers sampling, embargo or closure

    Does not answer

    • Your federal Produce Safety Rule status or coverage threshold
    • Municipal zoning or the permiso de uso, which come from the municipality and OGPe
    • IVU treatment or the Registro de Comerciantes, which are Hacienda questions
    • Agricultor bona fide certification, which is the Departamento de Agricultura

    What to askSay where you grow, and say plainly which form you sell in: living uncut trays, cut and bagged, or cut, washed and clamshelled. Then ask whether that operation needs a licencia sanitaria or whether the Food Code produce stand exclusion at 1-201.10(B)(3)(b) reaches it. Ask for the answer in writing, along with the current fee and whether cut microgreens are treated as a TCS food here. Note that the extension matters: the main number reaches the Department generally, and the Secretaria Auxiliar para la Regulacion de la Salud Publica on the same switchboard regulates health facilities and professionals rather than food.

  • Departamento de Agricultura de Puerto Rico

    DA

    787-832-5022

    Answers

    • Agricultor bona fide certification, form DA-OCAB-05, and the inspeccion ocular of the agronegocio
    • Who to contact about Produce Safety Rule compliance for a farm at your address, since no national directory lists a Puerto Rico produce program
    • ADEA qualification for selling at a mercado agricola promoted under Ley 63-2021
    • Current ADEA and Department grant or assistance opportunities

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need a licencia sanitaria, which is the Departamento de Salud
    • IVU or merchant registration questions, which are Hacienda
    • Municipal zoning and use permits

    What to askAsk who runs Produce Safety Rule outreach and inspection for a farm at your address, and what that office is called, because no national directory lists one for Puerto Rico. Separately, ask what the inspeccion ocular involves for agricultor bona fide status on form DA-OCAB-05 and how long certification takes. The number above is the Region de Mayaguez office; use the regional office serving your own farm.

  • Departamento de Hacienda, Registro de Comerciantes

    Hacienda

    Answers

    • Registro de Comerciantes registration, which Article 4060.01-1 requires at least 30 days before you begin operating
    • The current registration fee, which is not published in the regulation itself
    • Confirmation that fresh microgreens are IVU exempt as food under Article 4030.11-1, regardless of who buys them
    • How an agricultor bona fide actually claims the agricultural input exemption under Article 4030.22-1 at the point of purchase

    Does not answer

    • Anything about food safety, licensing or inspection
    • Whether you qualify as an agricultor bona fide, which the Departamento de Agricultura certifies
    • Income tax treatment under Incentives Code section 2082.02, which is a separate filing question

    What to askFresh microgreens are IVU exempt as food under Article 4030.11-1, but the seller still registers. Ask what the current Registro de Comerciantes fee is and whether any exclusion in Article 4060.01-1 reaches a farmer, because the published list does not appear to. If you hold agricultor bona fide status, ask how to present the Article 4030.22-1 input exemption when buying supplies.

  • Servicio de Extension Agricola, Universidad de Puerto Rico Mayaguez

    UPRM SEA

    Answers

    • Food safety education and materials for growers, in Spanish
    • Whether it offers or can point you to Produce Safety Rule grower training

    Does not answer

    • Any licensing determination, which only the Departamento de Salud can give
    • Confirmation that its food safety page satisfies a training mandate, which nothing on it establishes

    What to askAsk whether they offer Produce Safety Rule grower training for a covered farm, or know who delivers it in Puerto Rico. Be clear you are not asking for a licensing opinion, only for training that meets 21 CFR part 112.

Rhode Island

Read the Rhode Island guide

Start with RIDEM Division of Agriculture, which registers EVERY produce farm annually by 28 February. Licensing itself is fully centralised at RIDOH, with no county health departments at all.

  • Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Agriculture, Produce Safety Program

    RIDEM

    401-222-2781DEM.Produce@dem.ri.gov

    Answers

    • Whether you must make the annual Produce Farm Registration, and how to file it in the 1 January to 28 February window
    • Whether the federal Produce Safety Rule covers you or a qualified exemption applies
    • What happens if you miss the window, and when a granted exemption has to be reviewed again
    • The free On-Farm Readiness Review, run jointly with URI Cooperative Extension
    • Agricultural water sampling, including certified laboratory testing of harvest and post-harvest water
    • GAP Grower Certification and its annual audit

    Does not answer

    • Whether your wash and pack room counts as a food establishment, which is RIDOH
    • Sales permits, the vegetable exemption, or the commercial farming input exemption
    • Municipal zoning, home occupation rules or vendor permits

    What to askThis is the obligation growers miss, because no health department page mentions it. Ask for the exact dates of this year's window, whether any fee applies, and if you apply for a qualified exemption, on what date it lapses and what you must file to keep it. Exemptions expire every 28 February regardless of when granted.

  • Rhode Island Department of Health, Center for Food Protection

    RIDOH

    Answers

    • Whether your operation is a food business that must register annually under R.I. Gen. Laws 21-27-10
    • Whether you need a Food Processor license, retail or wholesale, because the crop is altered beyond standard harvesting
    • Plan review and pre-operational inspection for a new licensed establishment
    • What a packaged microgreens label must carry, before you commit to a print run

    Does not answer

    • The RIDEM Produce Farm Registration or its 28 February deadline
    • Cottage food as a route for raw produce, which it is not
    • Municipal vendor licenses, scale inspections or zoning

    What to askList every step you take after cutting, rinsing, drying, chilling, clamshelling, and where each happens. Then ask in writing whether that is standard harvesting or processing, and whether any license follows. Note that section 21-27-6 is headed "Businesses exempt" and does NOT exempt produce, so do not read an exemption into it.

  • University of Rhode Island Cooperative Extension, Food Safety Education

    URI Extension

    Answers

    • Which license path fits a farm selling fresh uncut produce against altered produce
    • What counts as standard harvesting: washing, cooling, ambient drying, curing, and removing stems, husks or roots
    • Practical preparation for a produce safety inspection, and the joint readiness review

    Does not answer

    • Any binding license determination. Extension guidance is education, not a ruling
    • Approving your label or your facility

    What to askUseful for working out which questions belong to RIDEM and which to RIDOH, so you get a binding answer from the right desk rather than a soft one from the wrong desk.

  • Rhode Island Division of Taxation

    Answers

    • That fresh vegetables are exempt from Rhode Island sales tax, and that a retail sales permit is STILL required
    • When the 7 percent rate applies to taxable items sold alongside your greens
    • The commercial farming exemption on equipment and farm structure materials, and its four year expiry

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need a food license or a farm registration

  • City of Providence, farmstand and vendor guidance

    Answers

    • The $10 a year farmer mobile vendor license and the $10 State Permit to Make Sales at Retail
    • The annual scale inspection if you sell by weight
    • That selling only uncut, unprocessed fruit and vegetables generally needs no city health license

    Does not answer

    • Any municipality other than Providence. No statewide index of local rules exists, so this is an EXAMPLE of the local layer rather than the Rhode Island rule

South Carolina

Read the South Carolina guide

Start with SCDA, which took over food safety from DHEC on 1 July 2024. Retail and wholesale are two different desks.

  • South Carolina Department of Agriculture, Retail Food Safety

    SCDA

    803-896-0640retailfood@scda.sc.gov

    Answers

    • Whether your operation prepares, processes, packages, serves or otherwise provides food, which is what triggers a Retail Food Establishment Permit under Regulation 61-25
    • Whether your crop stays an intact raw commodity sold direct, and so outside the permit
    • The annual or quarterly risk-based inspection frequency, and the minimal-risk exemption
    • The certified food protection manager and person-in-charge rules at 2-102.12 to 2-102.20
    • That a retail food establishment may be at a private dwelling only with a kitchen SEPARATE from the residents' kitchen

    Does not answer

    • Selling to other businesses, which is the Wholesale desk on 803-734-7321
    • Produce Safety Rule coverage, which is the Produce Safety Department

    What to askNote that post-July-2024 DHEC references in older documents are read as SCDA. If a source names DHEC, it is not necessarily out of date, but confirm which agency answers today.

  • SCDA Wholesale Food Safety

    803-734-7321

    Answers

    • The Registration Verification Certificate, triggered by manufacturing, processing, packing, holding or preparing for sale to other businesses
    • The registration, approved facility, inspection and label review sequence
    • Routine surveillance inspection

    Does not answer

    • Direct-to-consumer retail, which is the Retail desk
    • Using a domestic kitchen, which is expressly NOT an acceptable facility for this certificate

    What to askAsk before you accept a restaurant or grocery account, because that is the moment this desk becomes yours rather than the retail one.

  • SCDA Produce Safety

    803-753-7267

    Answers

    • Whether your farm is covered under the Produce Safety Act and federal Part 112
    • That routine produce farm inspections are ANNOUNCED and scheduled
    • PSA training and on-farm readiness reviews
    • Free one-on-one help completing the initial agricultural water system assessment

    Does not answer

    • Retail or wholesale permitting, which are separate desks

    What to askTwo things worth knowing: grower registration is expressly VOLUNTARY, but a grower who has NOT applied for an exemption is considered COVERED. Receiving the certificate is not a condition of eligibility, so apply rather than assume.

  • South Carolina Department of Revenue

    Answers

    • That fresh produce in its natural state, sold by the farmer at a market for customers to take home, is not subject to sales and use tax
    • That such a seller needs no retail account merely for those sales
    • The 6 percent statewide rate, and that local taxes differ

    Does not answer

    • Any permitting or food safety question

South Dakota

Read the South Dakota guide

Start with The Department of Health, which both publishes the market table naming microgreens in the no-license row AND issues the license you need the moment the sale stops being direct.

  • South Dakota Department of Health, Office of Health Protection, Food and Lodging Safety

    DOH

    605-773-4945

    Answers

    • Whether your pack counts as whole, intact produce under SDCL 34-18-34
    • Whether your venue is a farmer's market, roadside stand or similar venue, including a CSA pickup point
    • That intact salad greens and herbs, listed as mixed greens with leaves, microgreens and shoots, need no state license and no label
    • That wholesale, retail store and internet sales are INDIRECT sales requiring a state license
    • The Food Service License path: application, plan review, Certified Food Service Manager, on-site inspection

    Does not answer

    • Sales tax registration, which is the Department of Revenue
    • Zoning and home occupation limits, which are your city or county
    • Federal FSMA figures and agricultural water requirements, which are FDA's

    What to askAsk for the determination in writing for all three: a clamshell cut once at harvest, a living tray sold uncut, and delivery to a CSA pickup point. The table answers the first; the other two are where it stops being obvious.

  • South Dakota Office of Weights and Measures

    605-773-3697

    Answers

    • Whether your scale is NTEP approved and legal for trade
    • The certification, published at $28 and required every other year

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need a food license at all

    What to askMicrogreens sell by weight, so this applies to almost every grower and is the requirement most often missed.

  • South Dakota Department of Revenue

    DOR

    Answers

    • Whether your selling pattern is REGULAR rather than OCCASIONAL under ARSD 64:06:03:01
    • Sales tax license registration, the 4.2 percent state rate plus municipal tax
    • Exemption certificates for farm products sold for resale

    Does not answer

    • Whether your product or venue is exempt from food licensing

    What to askA weekly market stall is regular, not occasional. Do not assume a small operation is occasional.

  • SDSU Extension

    605-688-4792

    Answers

    • Produce safety guidance and grower training
    • How Extension reads "processed beyond normal harvesting" against your operation

    Does not answer

    • A binding determination on your product, which only DOH can give

    What to askExtension's "processed beyond normal harvesting" gloss and the DOH table listing microgreens as intact do not obviously agree. Ask which reading applies to a tray cut once at harvest.

  • South Dakota Secretary of State, Business Services

    Answers

    • Whether your trading name needs a fictitious name filing, at $10 per name
    • LLC formation at $150 online with a $55 annual report

    Does not answer

    • Whether forming an LLC changes your license position, because it does not

Tennessee

Read the Tennessee guide

Start with TDA Food Safety, and the question is whether your PREMISES is a food manufacturing facility.

  • Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Food Safety Section

    TDA

    615-837-5193NewFood.Business@tn.gov

    Answers

    • Whether your cutting and packing location is a food manufacturing facility, which is the question that decides everything
    • The Food Manufacturer License, priced by risk and floorspace rather than revenue
    • Plan approval, required BEFORE construction, remodelling or conversion
    • Label review, since proposed labels go in with the application

    Does not answer

    • Restaurants, which are regulated by the Tennessee Department of Health
    • The Food Freedom Act as a produce route. It covers home-kitchen food only

    What to askGet the facility classification IN WRITING before you sign a lease or fit out a unit.

  • TDA Produce Safety Program

    615-837-5193Produce.Safety@tn.gov

    Answers

    • Produce Safety Rule coverage and harvest-time inspection scheduling
    • The On-Farm Readiness Review, which TDA advises requesting BEFORE an inspection

  • Tennessee Department of Revenue

    Answers

    • That registration is generally required above an average of $400 monthly sales EVEN IF your product is exempt
    • The Agricultural Sales and Use Tax Certificate for qualifying inputs

  • TDA Market Development

    615-837-5160

    Answers

    • Farmers market programs and free Pick Tennessee Products marketing

Texas

Read the Texas guide

Start with DSHS, and then your local health authority.

Utah

Read the Utah guide

Start with UDAF Regulatory Services, which decides whether your harvest and packing leaves the product whole, uncut raw produce.

  • Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, Division of Regulatory Services

    UDAF

    801-982-2200

    Answers

    • Whether your harvest and packing method still counts as whole, uncut raw produce
    • Whether you need a Food Establishment Registration under the Utah Wholesome Food Act and Rule R70-540
    • Which size band your registration falls in, and the annual fee
    • Whether a Letter of Authorization is needed to work out of somebody else's inspected facility
    • What the pre-registration inspection looks at, and the 30 day application timing

    Does not answer

    • Your city business license, which section 4-5a-104(2) expressly preserves
    • Zoning, home occupation rules, HOA and lease terms
    • Federal Produce Safety Rule coverage, which sits with Plant Industry

    What to askDescribe exactly how you harvest, rinse, hold and package, with photographs, then ask whether the product remains whole, uncut raw produce or needs a Food Establishment Registration. In writing.

  • UDAF Retail Food Program

    385-332-1499

    Answers

    • Whether your sales model fits the Home Consumption and Homemade Food Act
    • What the Chapter 5a package disclosures and consumer notice require
    • Whether a specific channel counts as an in person sale at a prearranged location

    Does not answer

    • Cottage food registration, which is a different program and a different manager
    • Your municipal business license, which Chapter 5a leaves in place

  • UDAF Plant Industry, Produce Safety

    801-982-2306

    Answers

    • Whether your farm is covered, not covered, or qualified exempt under the Produce Safety Rule
    • How your water source is classified and what agricultural water requirements follow
    • A voluntary farm readiness review rather than an enforcement inspection
    • That your crop and harvest stage is treated as a microgreen rather than a sprout

    Does not answer

    • Food Establishment Registration, its fee band or its pre-registration inspection
    • Label content for a packaged retail product

  • UDAF Cottage Food Production Program

    385-799-0281

    Answers

    • What the cottage food program covers and what the $100 registration buys
    • Whether a current annual gross sales cap exists, since none is published

    Does not answer

    • Anything about fresh microgreens, which are not a cottage food product. This entry exists to close the question, not to open it

  • Utah State Tax Commission

    Answers

    • Whether your sales are taxed at the 3 percent grocery food rate or the full prepared food rate
    • When you must register for a Utah Sales and Use Tax License
    • Exemption certificates and the three year retention

    Does not answer

    • Whether Chapter 5a affects your tax position, because it does not

  • Utah State University Extension, Utah FoodBiz

    Answers

    • Which training and permits apply to each Utah food business route
    • Commercial net content labeling, including the Utah metric measure requirement
    • Production and cost benchmarks for a 1020 tray

    Does not answer

    • Any binding classification. Extension advises, UDAF regulates

Vermont

Read the Vermont guide

Start with Agriculture says no license for a raw crop, so the desk that actually decides is HEALTH, on whether packaging cut greens makes you a food manufacturing establishment.

  • Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, Produce Program

    AAFM

    802-461-6152AGR.Produce@vermont.gov

    Answers

    • Whether your operation is a produce farm under 6 V.S.A. 851 and needs no license
    • Your Produce Safety Rule status: excluded, qualified exempt or covered
    • What agricultural water standard and sampling plan fits your source and use
    • The voluntary, non-regulatory On-Farm Readiness Review, and what it costs

    Does not answer

    • Whether packaging cut greens makes you a Health food manufacturing establishment. That is the question, and it is not theirs
    • Anything under the Manufactured Food Rule, including the cottage food exemption
    • Municipal zoning for a home grow room

    What to askChapter 66 carries no license and no fee anywhere in it, so this desk is where you confirm you are outside the licensing regime rather than where you get a license.

  • Vermont Department of Health, Food and Lodging Program

    VDH

    Answers

    • Whether packaging cut microgreens is processed food under Manufactured Food Rule 4.1.18
    • Whether the 3.0 scope carve-out for establishments processing food SOLELY under Agency of Agriculture oversight still covers you once you package
    • Whether you need a Food Manufacturing Establishment License, which is annual and establishment-specific
    • The application, filed at least 30 days before operation, and the labeling and training requirements if you are classified as a manufacturer

    Does not answer

    • Your Produce Safety Rule coverage status, which is AAFM's call
    • Buyer insurance, traceability or audit demands, which are contract terms

    What to askPut the tension to them directly: 4.1.18 EXCLUDES trimming, cleaning and water-rinsing from processed food but INCLUDES packaging, while 3.0 excludes establishments processing food solely under Agriculture oversight. Ask which one governs a grower who cuts, rinses and seals their own crop. Get the determination in writing, because neither agency addresses it in public.

  • University of Vermont Extension, Produce Safety Portal

    UVM Extension

    Answers

    • Produce Safety Alliance grower training and Part 112 training materials
    • Practical help preparing records before an AAFM inspection

    Does not answer

    • Any licensing or classification decision. Extension is educational, not regulatory
    • Whether your packaging step triggers a Health license

  • Vermont Secretary of State, Business Services Division

    Answers

    • Whether you need to register an assumed business name to trade under one
    • Forming an LLC or corporation if you choose that structure

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need a food license of any kind
    • The current filing fee, which is deliberately not quoted here because no official fee schedule was opened. Ask rather than trusting a figure

Virginia

Read the Virginia guide

Start with VDACS Food Safety, which inspects the establishment FIRST and issues the permit second.

  • Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Office of Dairy and Foods, Food Safety Program

    VDACS

    804-786-3520foodsafety@vdacs.virginia.gov

    Answers

    • Whether your cutting and packing setup needs a Food Establishment Permit under Va. Code 3.2-5130(A)
    • Whether a grower selling only an intact, uncut crop falls inside or outside the permit
    • How a living tray is treated when no cutting or packing occurs
    • What the pre-opening inspection covers, and the plan review questions on separation, sinks, finishes, water and sewage
    • Which water test and standard apply to your actual source and activity
    • Whether your proposed label meets the four elements in 3.2-5123

    Does not answer

    • Whether your sales are taxable, or whether you must register as a seller
    • Zoning, home occupation approval, signage or a local business license
    • Temporary food establishment permits for cooking or serving at events, which are VDH

    What to askName the address, say whether you will sell cut and packed or as intact living trays, and name the buyer type. Then ask whether that operation needs a permit under 3.2-5130 and which category it falls in. Ask what the pre-opening inspection covers, because in Virginia the inspection comes before the permit rather than after it.

  • VDACS Produce Safety Program

    804-786-4003

    Answers

    • Whether your farm is covered by the federal Produce Safety Rule
    • The free and confidential On-Farm Readiness Review, bookable before your inspection
    • How the federal agricultural water requirements apply to your growing and packing

    Does not answer

    • Issuing your Food Establishment Permit, which is the Food Safety Program
    • Any guarantee that passing a readiness review means passing an inspection

    What to askBook the readiness review before the VDACS pre-opening inspection, and say whether your water is municipal or a private well when you ask which requirements apply.

  • Virginia Department of Health, Environmental Health

    VDH

    Answers

    • Whether an event stall needs a temporary food establishment permit
    • The Certified Food Protection Manager requirement for a temporary establishment
    • Where sampling ends and cooking or serving begins

    Does not answer

    • Your VDACS Food Establishment Permit or your packhouse inspection
    • Labeling of packaged microgreens under 3.2-5123

    What to askIf you plan to hand out cut samples, or to cook and serve at a market, ask whether that alone makes you a temporary food establishment and triggers the manager requirement.

  • Virginia State Corporation Commission

    SCC

    Answers

    • Whether you need a Certificate of Assumed or Fictitious Name to trade under a business name, at a $10 filing fee
    • Forming an LLC or corporation

    Does not answer

    • Anything about food permits, inspections or labeling
    • Sales tax registration, which is Virginia Tax

Washington

Read the Washington guide

Start with WSDA Food Safety Program. Washington calls cutting PROCESSING, so the license question is settled earlier here than in most states.

  • Washington State Department of Agriculture, Food Safety Program

    WSDA

    360-902-1876foodsafety@agr.wa.gov

    Answers

    • Whether cutting, bagging or clamshelling is food processing, or falls in the raw produce wash and trim exception
    • Whether a living tray sold for the customer to cut sits outside the Food Processor License
    • What the annual written buyer assurances must say, and how long to retain them
    • Which products and processes to declare so the approved scope covers your packing steps
    • The fee band under RCW 69.07.040 that matches your gross annual sales
    • Whether a dedicated space at a home address can pass the pre-license inspection
    • Whether your product needs a refrigeration statement and a day and month pull date

    Does not answer

    • Retail sales tax treatment, or which farm input exemptions apply
    • City or county zoning, home occupation, wastewater or septic approval
    • Temporary food permits or sampling at a farmers market, which are local health department matters

    What to askDescribe the operation step by step from tray to delivery and ask whether it is processing or the wash and trim exception. If you intend to sell living trays, ask exactly what the annual written assurance must say, because that document is what keeps the tray outside the license.

  • WSDA Produce Safety Program

    360-902-1848producesafety@agr.wa.gov

    Answers

    • Whether your farm is covered by the Produce Safety Rule, and what it requires of growing, harvesting, packing and holding
    • How the systems-based agricultural water assessment applies, as distinct from the annual bacterial test on a private processor water supply
    • Worker hygiene, soil amendment, sanitation and records expectations
    • A free On-Farm Readiness Review before an inspection

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need a Food Processor License, which is the Food Safety Program's call
    • Label content, packaging or pull dates

  • Washington State Business Licensing Service

    BLS

    Answers

    • Whether you need a state business license and UBI, triggered by a trade name, employees, tax collection, an endorsement or $12,000 in annual gross income
    • The $90 opening or reopening application fee and the $19 fee for other purposes
    • Which local city endorsements and trade name fees attach to your application

    Does not answer

    • Whether your microgreens need a Food Processor License
    • Retail sales tax treatment of fresh produce, which is the Department of Revenue on 360-705-6705

  • King County Public Health, food business permits

    Answers

    • Whether your farmers market presence needs a temporary food business permit in King County
    • Which fee category applies, from $126 minimal single market to $441 complex single market for 2026
    • How cut leafy greens are treated as TCS in that analysis
    • The requirement to have one valid Food Worker Card holder onsite

    Does not answer

    • The state Food Processor License, which is WSDA's
    • Requirements at any address outside King County. Every county and city sets its own, so this is an example rather than the rule

West Virginia

Read the West Virginia guide

Start with Your COUNTY health department for the permit, but the rule is 64 CSR 17 at state level, and the word "uncut" closes both exemption doors.

  • Your county health department

    Answers

    • The food establishment permit itself, since permitting and inspection are LOCAL across roughly four dozen county offices
    • The SF-5 permit application and what your county requires with it
    • Whether your operation falls inside the whole, uncut produce stand exclusion in 64 CSR 17
    • Inspection frequency, which the state rule does not publish

    Does not answer

    • What the rule SAYS. County pages restate it badly; Kanawha-Charleston still describes it as effective 2008, which is two versions stale
    • The WVDA farmers market vendor permit, which is a separate track

    What to askUse the county for HOW to apply. Take what the rule says from 64 CSR 17 itself, and never present one county's requirement as the West Virginia requirement.

  • West Virginia Office of Environmental Health Services, Food Safety

    OEHS

    304-558-2981

    Answers

    • That 64 CSR 17 is the governing rule, effective 1 April 2023, adopting the 2013 FDA Food Code
    • The four state modifications, including 41 degrees Fahrenheit for cut leafy greens equipment and the manager certification rule
    • That permitting and inspection sit with the local health departments

    Does not answer

    • Issuing your permit, which only your county does

  • West Virginia Department of Agriculture, farmers market vendor permits

    WVDA

    Answers

    • The statewide vendor permit at $35, running 1 April to 31 March, which must be displayed
    • That a market vendor needs NO food establishment permit, under W. Va. Code 19-35-3a
    • That fresh UNCUT produce is exempt from the vendor permit itself, while CUT produce needs one
    • The annual Produce Affidavit that uncut-produce sellers must still file

    Does not answer

    • Standing food establishment permits, which are your county

    What to askTwo nested exemptions plus a filing duty. Being exempt from the vendor permit does not exempt you from the affidavit.

  • WVDA Produce Safety Program

    304-558-2227produce@wvda.us

    Answers

    • Federal Produce Safety Rule coverage under the FDA cooperative agreement
    • The confidential, non-inspection, FREE On-Farm Readiness Review, and its affidavit prerequisite
    • GAP and GHP audits, run by WVDA personnel under USDA supervision and required by some wholesalers, hospitals and grocery chains

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need a county food establishment permit

  • West Virginia Tax Division

    Answers

    • The own-crop sales tax position where you make no other retail sales
    • The producer exemption from the $30 fee, and the $1,000 prior-year threshold

    Does not answer

    • Any food safety or permitting question

Wisconsin

Read the Wisconsin guide

Start with DATCP Division of Food and Recreational Safety, which decides whether your greens are still raw intact fruits and vegetables.

  • Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, Division of Food and Recreational Safety

    DATCP

    608-224-4923

    Answers

    • Whether your harvest, wash, bag and refrigeration model still counts as raw intact fruits and vegetables
    • Which license applies once you process: Food Retail under Wis. Stat. 97.30 and ATCP 75, or Food Processing Plant under Wis. Stat. 97.29 and ATCP 70
    • Whether a market vendor selling processed greens needs a mobile or temporary retail food establishment license
    • Label review before you commit to a print run
    • Which state, county or city agent licenses and inspects your particular site

    Does not answer

    • What a grocery or restaurant buyer requires in its vendor packet, insurance limit or GAP audit
    • Local zoning, home occupation, building or fire approval at your growing address
    • Facilities licensed by Dane or Milwaukee counties, which are not on DATCP's lists and go to those county public health departments instead

    What to askDescribe how you grow, harvest, wash, package, refrigerate and sell, then ask whether that stays inside "raw intact fruits and vegetables (excludes sprouts)", and if not, whether it is ATCP 75 retail or ATCP 70 processing.

  • Safe Wisconsin Produce, DATCP

    608-224-4511safeproduce@wi.gov

    Answers

    • Whether your farm is covered, qualified exempt or not covered under the Produce Safety Rule this year
    • What agricultural water requirements apply to your farm specifically
    • The free, voluntary On-Farm Readiness Review, offered June to October
    • Qualified end user records, and the point of sale farm name and complete business address requirement

    Does not answer

    • State food licensing for cut, washed or packaged product, which is Food Licensing on 608-224-4923
    • Sales tax, seller's permits or business registration

  • Wisconsin Department of Revenue

    DOR

    Answers

    • Whether fresh microgreens count as exempt food and food ingredients
    • Whether you need a seller's permit at all when every sale you make is exempt
    • What would make a sale taxable and pull you into the permit requirement

    Does not answer

    • Any food licensing or produce safety question

Wyoming

Read the Wyoming guide

Start with WDA Consumer Health Services, which decides whether what you sell is still your own raw agricultural commodity and therefore outside the license entirely.

  • Wyoming Department of Agriculture, Consumer Health Services

    WDA CHS

    307-777-7321

    Answers

    • Whether you fall inside the W.S. 35-7-124(a) exemption for an agricultural producer selling any raw agricultural commodity he produces
    • Whether a wash step, a cut, or clamshell packing keeps the crop a raw agricultural commodity
    • Whether a living tray and cut greens are treated the same, which no Wyoming statute or rule addresses
    • The $200 initial and $100 renewal fees, and the $50 temporary permit for a market stall
    • How to obtain the application, which is NOT published online and comes from the area inspector
    • Which desk holds your file, since Laramie, Natrona, Teton, Sweetwater and Sublette counties and the City of Laramie license locally

    Does not answer

    • Zoning or whether you may run a grow room at your address
    • Federal produce safety coverage and agricultural water testing

    What to askThe producer exemption is UNCAPPED, unlike the Food Freedom Act route, so establish which one carries you. Ask specifically whether rinsing and cutting before packing changes the answer.

  • Wyoming Department of Revenue, Excise Tax Division

    307-777-5200

    Answers

    • Whether fresh microgreens qualify as food for domestic home consumption under W.S. 39-15-105
    • Whether a sale to a restaurant or grocer is treated differently from a direct sale
    • Whether you register as a regular vendor or may use the occasional sales route

    Does not answer

    • Whether you need a food license

  • FDA Produce Safety Network

    PSN

    1-888-463-6332ProduceSafetyNetwork@fda.hhs.gov

    Answers

    • Whether your farm is covered, not covered or qualified exempt
    • What agricultural water requirements apply, since Wyoming publishes no state interval
    • That microgreens are produce rather than sprouts, so Subpart M does not apply

    Does not answer

    • Whether Wyoming requires a state food license

    What to askWyoming is NOT an FDA produce-safety cooperative-agreement state, so there is no state program and no state contact. FDA is your route, which is unusual in this series.

  • Wyoming Secretary of State, Business Division

    SOS

    Answers

    • Whether a sole proprietor trading under their own name must file anything
    • LLC formation at $100 and the annual report with its $60 minimum license tax

    Does not answer

    • Food licensing, and city or county permits which this office refers to city clerks

  • University of Wyoming Extension

    Answers

    • County-level agriculture and food safety support across all 23 counties and the Wind River Indian Reservation
    • Local food market context and grower training

    Does not answer

    • Any licensing, permitting or inspection decision

How this site uses them

Every page that makes a claim links the source the claim came from, and every regulatory page carries a source list at the foot and the date it was last checked. Where a state has not published an answer, the page says so and names the desk to ask instead of filling the gap with a number that reads well.

Regulations change between checks. If something here no longer matches what an agency told you, report it and it gets corrected. A page that is wrong about a rule is worse than no page.