Maryland allows farmers to get a special On-Farm Home Processing License to sell certain types of homemade food.

However, most people use Maryland’s cottage food law (which does not require a permit or training from the health department) to sell their homemade food.

This older law is useful for farmers who:

• Want to sell food products that the cottage food law does not allow (pickles, dried fruit, flavored honey, etc)
• Want to sell indirectly to restaurants or retail stores
• Want to sell their products in other states
• Have reached the cottage food law’s $25,000 sales limit

If none of the above applies to you, then it should be easier to start your business with the cottage food law.

With an On-Farm Home Processing License, farmers can sell certain types of non-perishable foods (including acidified foods) through any venue, but they are limited to $40,000 of sales. Farmers who sell acidified foods must take a training course from a Better Process School.