Hi there,

Wow, 2025 was quite the year for our industry!

I could tell early on that it was going to be a good year, just by the sheer number of bills introduced. There were 38 cottage food bills last year -- the most ever! (surpassing 30 bills in 2021)

However, it wasn't just a good year, it was a great year! In the end, 14 of the bills passed, representing 9 states that improved their laws.

Most notably, 7 states passed major improvements, including bills from a couple of the worst states in the nation. In a typical year, only 2 - 4 states pass major improvements, so this was clearly an excellent year for cottage food reform.


Let's take a look at the top 7 bills of 2025:

1. Texas - SB 541
A massive bill 6 years in the making, Texas surprised everyone by majorly improving their law without needing to compromise on anything. Texans can now sell many types of perishable products, can sell nonperishable foods wholesale, and can sell 3x as much as before. Plus they removed the home address label requirement and cracked down on government oversight, making this the biggest win of the year.

2. Michigan - HB 4122
It was the bill I was most excited about, but I thought it was dead in the water until a few weeks ago, when it got fast tracked through the legislature at the last-minute. When this bill goes into effect in March, it will bump Michigan out of the lowest-ranking spot on Forrager's map. It will double their sales limit (currently the lowest in the nation), remove the home address label requirement, and allow online sales, in-state shipping, and third-party delivery. After 13 years of no improvements, Michigan producers finally have something to celebrate!

3. Nevada - AB 352
As one of the lowest-ranking laws in the country, Nevada desperately needing this improvement. It almost tripled their sales limit and allowed online sales, in-state shipping, and third-party delivery. It's been a decade since Nevada improved their law, so this was a huge win for them!

4. Georgia - HB 398
In just about any other year, I would have put Georgia's bill into the top 3. Their bill was a major improvement that allowed wholesale, interstate sales, expanded their allowed foods list, removed the home address label requirement, and made it way easier for a producer to start selling. Georgia now has one of the best laws in the country!

5. New Hampshire - 6 bills!
It's hard enough to pass one bill in a year, let alone 6. Texas introduced 5 bills in 2023 and they didn't end up passing any, so I wondered if NH would suffer the same fate. The potential benefit of splitting improvements into different bills is that if one fails, the others still have a chance. But as it turned out, all of the bills ended up passing! Many of them were minor but they combined into an overall improvement that was quite significant. Most notably, NH removed the home address label requirement, allowed QR codes as a substitute for labels in some cases, and expanded a separate law to allow someone to run a micro-restaurant once-a-week, no strings attached. The latter two were firsts for our industry, so it will be interesting to see if other states follow suit.

6. North Dakota - SB 2386
Not only did they add online sales and shipping to their food freedom law, but they also allowed interstate sales as well. There are now 10 states that allow interstate sales (including Georgia above), and I expect this trend to continue. In fact, late last year I did a deep dive into interstate shipping and I will be sharing my findings in a future newsletter. North Dakota already had an excellent law, and now it's even better!

7. Tennessee - HB 130
The fact that this significant bill is coming in 7th place is a true testament to the kind of year it was. Tennessee added perishable foods to their food freedom law, massively expanding the types of products that people can sell. With this change, I now consider Tennessee to be a true food freedom law, and one of the best laws in the country!


So those are the main improvements we saw this year. Minnesota also passed HF 2446 to allow shipping, which feels more like a 2027 bill because that's when it will take effect. The last improvement was Wyoming SF 120, which allows farmers to sell products with red meat.

Despite the many wins, there were some disappointments, most notably with Mississippi yet again failing to pass a bill, marking the 5th year in a row they've failed to do so. With the passage of Michigan's bill, Mississippi is now ranked as the worst cottage food law in the country. Other states that desperately need improvements in 2026 are Rhode Island, Delaware, Louisiana, and Washington.

Overall, I'd say that 2025 was the 2nd-best year for the cottage food industry. It wasn't quite as groundbreaking as 2021 (which had 21 improvements, including 11 major ones), but it was far better than a "normal" year of progress, and is a sign that states are increasingly willing to loosen restrictions, as more states prove that it is safe and beneficial to do so.

I'm looking forward to more progress this year!

Click here to check out the 2025 Cottage Food Bills Map


Forraging ahead,

David