Registering as a Farm

[PittyLova]

I'm not quite sure if this is the right forum for this, but couldn't decide where to put it!

I know somebody who lives in the next state (which is 7min from my house) who was saying she registered as a farm and was talking about it being beneficial. She raises and sells meat, eggs, and other byproducts of the animals she butchers. She raises chickens, pigs, and sheep.

I'm JUST starting and plan on selling meat/eggs/ducklings/chicks/poults/piglets. Eventually probably some vegetables and fruit as well. Nothing major, but am hoping to just get enough to cover my costs. If we make more, awesome. If not that's ok. I was only planning on setting up a little farm stand and not doing anything crazy just yet. She has me thinking that I should maybe look into registering as a farm. Has anybody else registered? What are the benefits? Any cons? I know this MAY change per state, I don't know if this is a federal registration program?

I can go on and do a bunch of research, but I figured first hand experience is better and it may help somebody else on here!

 

[A_Fowl_Guy]

It’s a tax credit issue, not a state level ordinance. If your main source of income is the money you make from farming then you can register as a farm but then you must itemize your spending. If you are making less than you put out for your farm you can register it as a hobby farm but you’ll still have to itemize it.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

not sure what your laws are like in the states. in my province it seems to be by what the land was zoned for and limits on owner ship amounts.

am not much help here, but if i where you i would go talk to the local farm management or agricultural office to see what you can do.

 

[PittyLova]

not sure what your laws are like in the states. in my province it seems to be by what the land was zoned for and limits on owner ship amounts.

am not much help here, but if i where you i would go talk to the local farm management or agricultural office to see what you can do.

I do know that here you don't have to be zone agricultural and there's no minimum on lot size either. This much I did learn from her and was surprised.

 

[Harmony Fowl]

We registered our property as a farm through the USDA. I'll admit I don't know a lot about it. Zoning was actually a big concern for us and what motivated us to register. We live in an area that really isn't conducive to development thanks to lots of steep mountainsides, but gosh, you know people try anyway and developers are always trying to push for a little more. We wanted as much ammo to maintain our agricultural zoning or be grandfathered in if any attempt was made to change that.