Are you a devoted gardener who often has more plants than you can manage? Or, do you excel at plant multiplication and, once again, find yourself with an overabundance of plants? If so, you may have considered selling your excess. However, it takes a lot of work. Before selling, determine if you need a license to sell plants online or from your house. Almost everything is subject to the regulation of some kind.
Does a plant patent protect this specific plant, or am I even allowed to sell it? If you’re interested, read on to learn the laws governing plant sales from your home or online.
What You Should Know Before Selling Plants
Farmer’s markets are popular and may be found in most cities, regardless of size. Sellers are often independent growers or small-scale farms. However, to sell their goods, they must adhere to stringent regulations. It’s the same whether you want to sell plants locally or online. Like other goods, plant trademarks or patents are often used to protect plants. A home grower may also need a nursery license to resell their plants legally.
Plant Trademarks and Patents
In the US, innovations are protected by patents, trademarks, and copyrights, together known as individual property rights. This includes inventions relating to new technology or new species. When selling plants (new organisms), the seller must confirm that the plant is free of any encumbrances on intellectual property.
The plant breeder who owns these rights has control over how they are used and has the opportunity to profit from them (often financially). Asexually reproduced new or unique cultivars are granted plant patents to their creators. Because of this protection, no one can replicate the plant unless they accept the conditions outlined in a license agreement. Plant patents provide the breeder with 20 years of protection.
How Are You To Know?
How can you tell whether a plant has patent protection? The patent holder is not required to designate the plants as such. However, a nursery will let you know whether a plant is patented when you purchase it since they must pay a royalty charge. The cost of the plant, therefore, rises as a result.
This will be stated on the plant’s label. Following a string of digits, it will either indicate PP for “plant patent” or PPAF for “plant patent applied for.”
Consequences for violating a patent may include a monetary fine or judicial action.
Do Not Sell Prohibited Plants
You should abstain from selling prohibited plants and avoid the sale of patented plants. These include the opium poppy and, in certain areas, marijuana. No plants that are listed as invasive or endangered by the federal government may be sold.
Is a License Required to Sell Plants?
Depending on the state, you could require a license to sell plants.
Each state is unique. For example, selling seeds and outside plants requires permission in California. However, all plant sales in Florida need a license. To find out the regulations, contact your state’s Department of Agriculture.
Online plant sales vary by state in terms of legality. Either a plant-selling permit or a nursery dealer license is required in the state of Washington. To confirm the regulations, check with your state.
How to Become a licensed plant nursery
Using Washington State as an example, once again, you must have a business and nursery licenses to sell horticultural plants there. Whether you operate a retail or wholesale firm will affect the license’s cost. Your gross sales are the basis for fees. Every year, the license has to be renewed.
Non-profit organizations may even require a temporary nursery license to organize a sale in certain jurisdictions.
There are distinct laws in each state. Depending on the plant, the state’s nursery license may or may not apply. You may get the guidelines and explanatory text from your state’s Department of Agriculture.
