Last year I ordered some fruit trees (2 -Asian Pears, an Almond, and another Nectarine) from Bay Laurel Nursery:
www.baylaurelnursery.com
the products were superior to anything I have ever ordered and I order at least a few things every year for at least 30 years. I noticed on their packing slip, they have a USDA license and California Nursery Stock Certificate, etc. I was amazed at how many people seemed to be involved in the shipping of my order. I thought I was just going to sell my seedlings but I discovered “opps” there might be a few hoops to jump through first….
I did a little research up on the Internet and found there was a License with an exemption for small time home growers. Then, I found out that you do need to fill out an Application for License to Sell Nursery Stock. I missed this on the first time through but a very helpful person at the Riverside County Building got us back on the right track. Currently the form is NIPM Item #2.1. NIPM means Nursery Inspection Procedures Manual. I couldn’t find my original Internet version but found one posted by Orange County: NIPM Item #2.1
Then you need a Fee Exempt License to Sell Nursery Stock NIPM Item 2.4
Here is one from Sonoma Country: NIPM Item 2.4 which exempts small growers from the application fee.
There are numerous restrictions but the biggest is that you cannot ship your plants and they can only be sold in the county in which they are grown. There are some others but those are the key restrictions.
I am lucky in that I already have a number of small businesses so I have the business licenses, Resale Licenses, Sales Tax, etc. so I did not have deal with those issues.
Basically, you need a business license, a sales certificate, and an agricultural license, as well as all the business “stuff”. I am not going to tell how to do it, but I can tell you my style never really changes when dealing with these issues. I go direct. So, I walked into the City Hall and asked for who handles Business Licenses (a very helpful lady decades ago got me through that one painlessly), and then walked down the street to the California State Building and asked where you get your sales license went to the 10th floor and they walked me through the application (a little more complex but got the job done), and then I sent one of my grown sons down to the County Agricultural Office to understand and submit the applications for License to Sell Nursery Stock and the Fee Exempt License. We had it wrong, and a very helpful man helped us with the forms.
All in all, it would take me a half a day to do it now with what I know, but if I were young and starting over and knew nothing, I would figure a day spread out over several days with some of the items taking more than one visit. Not nearly as difficult as many of government processes and similar in pain to renewing a driver’s license or registering a new car title or getting a smog check, etc.
