Understanding what licenses or permits are needed to sell or donate produce from your farm depends on many factors. Use the information below to help determine what your farm specifically needs to comply with local and federal requirements. Individual state requirements vary. Check with any other states you are trying to do business with if looking for market access across state lines. 

What is a “process” versus normal farming activities.

Many activities are common on a farm, like growing, harvesting, packing, and holding produce. When produce is changed or processed from its raw agricultural state, a farmer often has to comply with federal and state regulations as a food processor.  RI Department of Health has recently (July, 2022) put out a new guidance doc. – Food Processing: Guidance for RI State and Federal Regulatory Requirements.

Many activities fall under the definitions of “manufacturing/processing,” and the key distinction for FDA is whether you are transforming a product in any way. Some types of processing that changes produce from its raw agricultural state and would not be allowed unless processing licensures are in place can include:

• JUICING
• FREEZING (including whole produce)
• DRYING that creates a distinct commodity
  • If you dry or dehydrate without doing any additional processing (e.g. drying herbs, or drying grapes to make raisins), then that activity falls is considered a “farm” activity and not a facility activity.
• CUTTING (i.e. lettuce heads into a salad mix, saffron threads), CORING, CHOPPING (i.e. selling melon halves), or SLICING
  • Except field coring (e.g. removing the core of lettuce in the field), which is considered a harvesting activity.
• SPIRALIZING (to create noodles)
• GRINDING OR MILLING
• COOKING
• IRRADIATION  
• CANNING
• FERMENTATION
• COATING (with things other than wax, oil, or resin)
• ARTIFICIAL RIPENING
• PASTEURIZING OR HOMOGENIZING
• INFUSING
• DISTILLING
• REMOVING CORN KERNELS TO MAKE POPCORN
• SALTING
• SEEDING TO MAKE A FOOD PRODUCT (i.e. roasted pumpkin seeds)
• SMOKING

Important distinction! Washing, cooling, ambient drying, curing, or removing stems, husks, or roots when performed on a farm are considered to be typical harvesting activities and do not count as a process that would change produce from a raw agricultural state.