Blazing Trails Through the Jungle of Food Regulations

Blazing Trails is a 3-hour fast paced zoominar on all the laws and rules that govern food sales in Minnesota and across state lines into our neighboring states. You'll learn about the oldest food laws & the newest ones; where all the words are defined in law (like "food" and "sell"). You'll also learn about the 25+ "exemptions" and "exclusions" from food licensing. Time for Q & A.

April 2025 Zoominar

"Legal Guide to Botanicals for Minnesota Producers" is a 2025 fact sheet developed by Farm Commons. This guide helps botanical producers make informed decisions about how to best market and manufacture your products to avoid unknowingly triggering additional product regulations. Familiarity with dietary supplement regulations will allow botanical businesses to continue to thrive. Botanical products can exist in a gray area between food and dietary supplement regulations. Botanical producers unaware of dietary supplement regulations risk violating labeling, cGMP, or marketing rules. 

The guide includes advice on whether botanical products qualify under Minnesota's 'product of the farm' exclusion from licensing, Minnesota's 'cottage foods law' exemption from licensing, sales tax, wild foraging for the plants, and more.

As a food farmer, when should you choose the product of the farm exclusion from licensing, or the cottage food exemption from licensing, or invest in a food license? This zoominar walks you through your options.

Minnesota Department of Agriculture's fact sheet covers a high level look at the differences between a cottage foods exemption from licensing, and the product of the farm exclusion from licensing. Further MDA and MDH food licensing categories can be found here.

 Direct to Customer

Are you new to marketing directly to customers or looking to refresh your approach?

Whether you are a farmer selling quarters of beef or a vegetable vendor at a Saturday farmers' market, this course is for you. Learn the basics of how to assess your market, pricing, and promotions for maximum effect and apply your knowledge independently in a hands-on workbook.

Here is the link to the free workbook "Direct To Customer."

• Video: Identify Your Niche.
• Video: Define Your Brand.
• Video: Analyze Your Costs and Pricing.

Taught by Ryan Pesch, University of Minnesota Extension.

Farmers Market Coalition Membership

Good news! If you are a member of MFMA, you are automatically a member of FMC. As a FMC member, you have access to all their programs as well. 

Food Sampling & Cooking Demos

• Safe Food Sampling Law - Handwashing Station
• Worksheet

Grow Your Green Farm Profitability is a free workbook and collection of practical templates designed to help farmers organize and manage their farm financial records with confidence.

From tracking income and expenses to understanding enterprise performance, these tools help turn financial data into meaningful insights. Whether you're a beginning farmer or an experienced producer, Grow Your Green can help you better understand your numbers, evaluate profitability, and make informed decisions to strengthen the financial health of your farm business.

MFMA offers a group insurance policy for member markets and member vendors through Advantage 1 Insurance Agency. The policy is underwritten by West Bend Mutual. This group policy insurance is program is open to MFMA and Wisconsin market members and vendor members. The policy runs Jan. 1 through Dec. 31.

Legal for Sale Scales

Selling by Weight? Make Sure Your Scale Is Legal for Sale

If you sell products by weight, Minnesota law requires that you use a "legal for sale" scale that has been certified for commercial transactions. This ensures accuracy and fairness for both vendors and customers and helps maintain trust in the marketplace.

Products commonly sold by weight include produce, meat, poultry, cheese, baked goods, and other food items priced by the pound or ounce. Using a certified scale helps ensure customers are charged correctly and that vendors remain in compliance with state weights and measures regulations.

Before the market season begins, check that your scale is approved for commercial use, properly calibrated, and displays a valid inspection seal if required. If you're unsure whether your scale meets legal requirements, contact your local weights and measures inspector or the Minnesota Department of Commerce for guidance.

A certified scale is more than a regulatory requirement—it's an important tool for providing transparency, accuracy, and confidence in every transaction.

Market Bucks + Produce Market Bucks

Market Bucks is an incentive program funded by Minnesota to match up to $10 per farmers' market visit to any participant in the SNAP program to buy SNAP-eligible items.

Canceled in 2025 by the federal government, Produce Market Bucks was an incentive program funded by the federal government to match up to $10 per farmers' market visit to any participant in the SNAP program - specifically to buy produce.  

The Food Group administers both programs. To learn how to offer Market Bucks, contact Steph Wagner via email at swagner@thefoodgroupmn.org.

Find Farmers' Markets and Direct Marketing Farmers who accept SNAP and Market Bucks here.

MN Farmers' Market Map

Make Your Market is on the Map!

Your market deserves to be found. Please complete this Map Intake Form so we can make sure your info is current on the map.

MFMA Farmers' Market Manual 

Our Farmers' Market  Manual is full of the organizational information needed to operate and participate in today's vibrant Minnesota farmers' markets.  Not only does the Manual go into detail about these subjects, it includes hundreds of links to resources and info from local markets, state agencies, national leaders, and organizations. 

Chapters include:

1. Starting A Farmers' Market
2. Organizing
3. Structuring
4. Governance Structure
5. Managing Your Farmers' Market
6. Financial Management
7. Food Safety and Food Licensing
8. Building A Vendor Base
9. Food Assistance Programs
10. Obtaining Financial Resources
11. Promoting Your Farmers' Market
12. Risk Management and Insurance

Power of Produce

The Power of Produce (PoP) Club is a nationally recognized kids program first started at the Oregon City Farmers' Market in May 2011, to empower kids to make healthy food choices, introducing them to where their food comes from.  PoP has now spread throughout the U.S. and Canada at thousands of farmers' markets.

In Minnesota, PoP is now offered for Kids, Teens, and Seniors. Markets and communities raise the money to offer $2 - $5 coupons to the various age groups. Participants then use that coupon to buy produce from the farmers at the market. 

There are two toolkits for markets to use to set up a PoP program. The Farmers Market Coalition's toolkit is free to Minnesota farmers' markets because MFMA is a member of FMC  and the University of Minnesota Extension has a free toolkit.

Pricing For Profitability

Ryan Pesch

UMN Extension

Pricing at a farmers' market can be more art than science, whether it's lettuce or eggs or jam. Learn the basics of pricing your product to both make sales and a profit. Taught by Ryan Pesch, University of Minnesota Extension.

<<< Click free workbook that 

accompanies the zoominars.

"Pricing For Profit" video here.

As a food farmer, when should you choose the product of the farm exclusion from licensing, or the cottage food exemption from licensing, or invest in a food license?  This zoominar walks you through your options.

Sales tax on foods in Minnesota is complicated. For example, jams & jellies sold at grocery stores are not taxed BUT jams & jellies sold at a farmers' market are taxed. Key to note is that MDOR defines food terms differently than either MDA or MDH. 

• Flowchart of Prepared Food - MDOR

• FS102D.pdf Defines terms, lists example prepared foods and if they are taxed.

• FS102A.pdf Defines 'food and food ingredients' and if they are taxed. 
• Guidance List on Taxable & Nontaxable Cottage Foods

Selling Minnesota Guides

The Selling Minnesota Guides are the latest & most accurate sources of laws & rules impacting Minnesota food farmers and food makers.

• Approved Water Supply for Rural Food Businesses
• Exempt (from Licensing) Food Stands
• Selling Minnesota Meat Products
• Selling Minnesota Poultry Products
• Selling Minnesota Produce 
• Selling Minnesota Rabbit Products
• Selling Minnesota Shell Eggs

The Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) and the Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) are federal programs administered by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (together known as S/FMNP). These programs seek to:

• Provide fresh, unprepared, locally grown fruits, vegetables, and herbs to Women, Infants & Children (WIC) participants and low-income seniors, and
• Expand the awareness, use of, and sales at farmers' markets.

To sign up to offer WIC at your market, contact the MDA Senior / Farmers' Market Nutrition Program.

The Wifery

The Wifery Livestock Skills Consortium is an educational and skills training program to help livestock farmers increase the care to their livestock and poultry enterprises. The Wifery program combines a curriculum per species with a kit of essential equipment and supplies. Regardless of the health issue, all solutions are included, from certified organic to pharmaceutical. Each in-person session covers the material and hands-on practice with the equipment. There are four basic platforms:

1. Basic Livestock Care: 'normal' livestock health per species is covered. Kit includes supplies needed for suturing wounds, splinting legs, giving shots (SQ, IM, IV, IP), taking blood samples, syringes, needles, etc.
2. Parasite Management: ID the worm eggs in manure samples from participants' livestock, discuss management solutions. The Fecal Flotation Kit is used during the workshop and available for sale.
3. Birthing & Babies: material covers health needs for both the mothers of each species as well as the babies. Kit includes tubing, ear tagging & tattooing, etc.
4. Nutrition & Management.