How to Sell What You Grow Directly to Your Neighbors in Oregon

Oregon's Farm Direct Marketing Law applies to producers selling their own agricultural products directly to consumers. The key word is your own. You grew it, raised it, or harvested it on your land.

This covers:

• Fruits and vegetables
• Herbs and microgreens
• Eggs (with specific rules — see Step 3)
• Honey (no additives)
• Nuts
• Cut flowers
• Seedlings and starts (note: if you sell more than $250 of nursery stock/year, a nursery license kicks in)

You cannot buy produce from someone else and resell it under farm direct rules. That's a different pathway.

→ ODA: Farm Direct Marketing for Agricultural Products (PDF)

Direct to consumer means:

• From your property (farm stand, front yard, driveway)
• At farmers markets
• Door-to-door delivery
• Online orders with in-person pickup or delivery (Oregon only)

You cannot sell farm direct to stores, restaurants, or institutions — that's wholesale, and different rules apply.

Eggs are allowed under farm direct, but they have specific requirements:

• Labeling required: Each carton needs your farm name, address (or Registration ID if registered with ODA), and a "sell by" or pack date
• Handling: Eggs must be clean, sound-shelled, and stored properly
• No grading required for direct sales, but if you claim a grade (like "Grade A"), you must meet USDA standards
• Quantity: No limit on how many you sell, as long as they're from your own flock and sold directly to consumers

The rules get more complex if you sell to stores. For direct-to-neighbor sales, keep it simple: clean eggs, labeled cartons, honest practices.

→ OSU Extension: Farm Direct Marketing Eggs & Meat

Honey with no additives falls under farm direct rules. A few things to know:

• Hobbyist exemption: If you have 20 or fewer hives and only extract your own honey, you're considered a hobbyist and exempt from wholesale extraction licensing
• Labeling: Label with your name/farm, net weight, and "honey" (plus any variety if you're claiming it, like "wildflower" or "clover")
• Sales cap: There's no sales cap for honey under farm direct. However, if you use the Cottage Food Exemption pathway instead, the ~$52,700/year cap applies
• No additives: The moment you add flavoring, comb, or infusions, you may move into a different regulatory category. Keep it pure and you're clean.

Oregon's Farm Direct Marketing Law also allows you to turn what you grow into low-risk, value-added products and sell them directly to consumers without a processing license.

This includes:

• Jams and preserves made from your own fruit
• Pickles made from your own cucumbers
• Dried herbs from your garden
• Salsa from your own tomatoes and peppers (shelf-stable only)
• Fruit leather, dried fruit

The products must be non-potentially-hazardous (shelf-stable) and made from ingredients you grew. If you're buying ingredients from someone else, you'll need to look at the Cottage Food Exemption instead.

One thing to know: processed Farm Direct products have an annual sales cap of $50,000. That's a flat number set in statute — unlike the cottage food cap, it doesn't move with inflation. Raw produce, eggs, and honey under Farm Direct don't count toward this — only the processed stuff like jams and salsa.

→ OSU Extension: Farm Direct Marketing for Producer-Processed Products

If you sell produce by the pound, your scale may need to be certified by the Oregon Department of Agriculture's Measurement Standards division. For small-scale direct sales at farmers markets, this is usually a simple process — but it's worth checking.

If you sell by the unit (per bunch, per basket, per dozen eggs), no scale certification is needed.

A farm stand with no sign on a dead-end road isn't going to find customers by itself. Your neighbors want local eggs, local tomatoes, local honey — they just don't know you exist yet.

List on Marketless Farmer. It's built for exactly this. Local discovery, real relationships.

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