Why this tool exists
If you grow and sell produce, the FDA's Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule applies to you — unless your farm is small enough or local enough to be exempt. Most small farms are exempt. The catch is that the exemption isn't automatic paperwork-free: the thresholds change every year with inflation, the math uses a three-year rolling average, and if you claim a qualified exemption you're required to keep a written record showing you checked your eligibility annually.
This calculator handles all of that. You type in three years of sales numbers, it tells you exactly where you stand using the FDA's current thresholds, and it produces a signed, citation-backed record you can hand to an inspector. The whole thing takes about ten minutes.
1Tell it about your farm
Open the app and fill in your farm's name, address, and contact details. This information appears on your printed exemption record, so use your farm's legal name — the one on your tax filings.
Everything you type is saved automatically on your own device. Nothing is uploaded anywhere, there's no account to create, and no one else can see your numbers. If you close the app and come back next week, your information is still there.
2Enter three years of sales
This is the heart of it. For each of the three years shown, enter three numbers:
- Gross Produce Sales — raw fruits, vegetables, herbs, sprouts, nuts, and mushrooms. Leave out hay, meat, dairy, grains, and anything processed.
- Total Food Sales — everything you sell that people or animals eat: produce, meat, dairy, eggs, grain, hay, and live animals sold for food. Leave out non-food items like timber, wool, or ornamental plants.
- Qualified End-User Sales — food sold directly to consumers (farmstand, farmers' market, CSA, online direct sales) or to restaurants and stores in your state or within 275 miles. This is a slice of your Total Food Sales figure, not your Produce Sales figure — it's an easy mix-up to make when you're moving quickly through the form.
New farm? Enter 0 for a year you operated but had no sales, and leave a year blank only if you weren't in business yet — the calculator adjusts the average accordingly.
Determining a Qualified End User
Not every local sale counts as a Qualified End User (QEU) sale, and not every out-of-state sale is disqualified. The FDA's definitions in 21 CFR § 112.3 (and, for what counts as a "restaurant" or "retail food establishment," § 1.227) come down to who the buyer is and what they do with the food, not just distance:
| Buyer | Counts as a QEU? |
|---|---|
| A consumer, anywhere | Yes, always. Direct-to-consumer sales (CSA, farmstand, farmers' market, online) have no mileage limit — a customer in another state still counts. |
| Restaurant, cafe, caterer, cafeteria, care-facility kitchen | Yes, but only if in your state (or on the same Indian reservation) or within 275 miles of your farm. |
| Retail store | Only if in your state (or on the same Indian reservation) or within 275 miles of your farm, and selling directly to consumers is its primary function — its sales to consumers must exceed its sales to everyone else combined. A business itself is never a "consumer." |
| Another farm or farm-operated business | Only if in your state (or on the same Indian reservation) or within 275 miles of your farm, and that buyer's own primary function is direct-to-consumer sales (its own CSA, stand, or market) — not if it wholesales or distributes what it buys from you. |
| Distributor | No, never — even if the distributor's own customers are retail stores. A business whose primary function is selling to other businesses doesn't qualify, no matter who its customers are downstream. |
- A produce processor that turns your crop into a product sold exclusively to wholesalers and retailers is not a QEU. But if that same processor's primary business is running its own retail store, it is one.
- Some retail stores also run their own distribution side-business. The whole establishment counts as a QEU only if direct-to-consumer retail is still its primary function (and it's in your state or within 275 miles) — if wholesale distribution is actually primary, none of your sales to them count, regardless of the storefront.
Not sure about a specific buyer? Your state produce safety program can help you work through a borderline case — this comes up more often than you'd think, especially with hybrid retail/distribution buyers.
3Read your result
The status panel does the math the same way the FDA does — a three-year rolling average compared against the current inflation-adjusted thresholds — and gives you one of three answers, each with a plain-language explanation of what it means and what to do next:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Fully Exempt | Your average produce sales are at or below the FDA threshold ($34,324 for 2026). The Produce Safety Rule doesn't cover your farm. Keep sales records on file to show it. |
| Partially Exempt (Qualified) | Your food sales are under the limit ($686,476 for 2026) and most of them go to local buyers. You skip the rule's general requirements but must label your products with your farm name and address, and keep an annual written eligibility record — which this app prints for you. |
| Not Exempt | Your farm is fully covered by the rule. The app explains exactly which threshold you crossed. Your next steps are to complete a PSA Grower Training course and contact your state produce safety program for on-farm guidance. |
4Print your record
Once your farm name and your sales numbers are in, the Preview Exemption Letter and Print / Save Exemption Record buttons unlock. The document it generates isn't a generic printout — it's a formal annual determination with your sales ledger, the three-year math shown line by line, the specific federal regulations that apply to your status, and a signature block.
Sign it, date it, and file it with your sales records. If an inspector ever asks how you determined your exemption status, you hand them this.
5Optional: look ahead to next year
Wondering whether a good season could push you over a threshold? Open the Future Year Exemption Planner, enter what you expect to sell this year, and it projects next year's status using your existing records plus your estimate. Useful when you're deciding whether to expand a crop, take on a wholesale account, or start preparing for full coverage ahead of time.
A few things worth knowing
- It works without a signal. Once you've opened the app on your phone or computer, it keeps working with no internet at all — in the barn, in the field, anywhere. The Offline Ready badge in the header confirms your device has a working cached copy. Add it to your home screen and it behaves like a regular app.
- The numbers stay current. The dollar thresholds come straight from the FDA's official inflation-adjusted cut-offs, which are updated each spring. The FDA Limits badge in the header shows the threshold year the app is working from, so you always know it's using the right year's figures.
- Your data stays yours. Sales figures never leave your device. There's no account, no sign-up, and nothing for anyone to look at but you.
- It's free. No trial, no upsell.
This tool is provided to help farms understand and document their status under the FSMA Produce Safety Rule (21 CFR Part 112). It is not legal advice. If your operation is complex or sits close to a threshold, it's worth a conversation with your state produce safety program or cooperative extension office.