Published in Fall 2024
By: Evie Smith, OSU Extension Service Small Farms Program
If you saw Fall 2023’s edition of Oregon Small Farm News, you saw Kelly Streit’s article about the updates to the Oregon Farm Direct Marketing Law (ORFDML). The ORFDML was originally passed in 2011 and allows farmers and aspiring food entrepreneurs to produce and sell a low-risk farm direct, valueadded product directly to consumers without having to obtain a processing license. The law was updated in 2023 to include the following:
- Product list expanded to include Big Leaf Maple and walnut syrup, processed fruit and vegetable juices, herbal blends (herbal tea or dried herbs)
- Food preservation methods expanded to include steam canning and freeze drying
- Sales/delivery channels expanded to include intrastate online sales and third party sales
- Gross sale limit increased to $50,000/year
When the updates passed, Kelly began working with the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) to develop the Oregon Administrative Rules (OARs) for these updates, which provide guidance about how farmers, markets, and other food entrepreneurs can apply these updates. At the same time, Kelly launched a series of workshops throughout the state about the updates to the Oregon Farm Direct Marketing Law. To date, workshops have been held in Clackamas, Columbia, Lane, Lincoln, Linn-Benton, Marion, Multnomah, and Washington Counties as well as at OSU’s statewide Small Farms Conference this February.
I was lucky to get to work with Kelly to put on her workshop in Lincoln County. Our workshop was primarily attended by farmers looking to sell under the ORFDML for the first time. During the workshop, Kelly provided participants with detailed information about how to process and sell their products in compliance with the ORFDML. With her extensive knowledge and experience working with farmers, markets, and ODA on this law, Kelly was able to provide helpful real-life examples and thoroughly address attendees’ questions throughout the workshop. Kelly also gave workshop participants an opportunity to get hands-on experience testing the acidity, or pH, of their products, which is a key step in the process of developing safe value added products to be sold under the ORFDML.
Kelly has worked to make these workshops relevant to the local farming community in each county that she’s held them. In some counties, local farmers who are currently selling products under the ORFDML have shared their stories of working to comply with the updates to the law. In Lincoln County, Kelly worked with the Central Coast Food Web (CCFW), our new local food hub, and ODA to understand how CCFW can work with farmers selling their products under the ORDFML. Kelly and Kiara Caruso of CCFW then shared what they’d learned from these conversations at the workshop.
If you are currently selling your products under the ORFDML or are considering doing so in future and weren’t able to attend one of these Field to Market workshops, check out OSU Extension’s publication Oregon’s Farm Direct Marketing Law: Producer-processed Value-added Products. Kelly recently updated this publication to include information about how to apply the updates to the ORFDML. Thank you, Kelly, for being an advocate for and educator of our small farmers looking to sell value added farm products!