August 7, 2026
Idaho Opens the Kitchen Door:
New Opportunities for Families, Farmers & Entrepreneurs
By: Idaho Representative Heather Scott
What if that homemade salsa everyone asks you for could become a small business? What about your grandmother’s famous cinnamon rolls, cookie recipe, homemade jam, or other family favorites? In Idaho, these opportunities can now become reality.
This year, Idaho passed the Direct-to-Consumer Commerce Law, reducing regulations and expanding the freedom of Idahoans to produce and sell homemade foods directly to consumers. Instead of requiring small producers to operate expensive commercial kitchens under regulations designed for large food manufacturers, the new law creates a simpler path for entrepreneurs to turn homemade products into small businesses and neighbors to sell directly to neighbors.
Idahoans can now produce and sell baked goods, jams and jellies, pickles and fermented foods, sauces and condiments, soup mixes, candy, granola, honey, dried and dehydrated foods, freeze-dried foods, pasta and dough, certain jerky products, cooked vegetables, certain nonalcoholic beverages and more, directly to consumers!
The idea behind the law is simple: Idahoans should have greater freedom to produce food, be entrepreneurial, and choose who they buy their food from.
Think of the potential economic boost this will have for families across Idaho.
A mom who loves baking could earn extra money for her family. A retired couple could turn produce from their garden into jams and pickles. A young entrepreneur could test a freeze-dried food business without investing tens of thousands of dollars into a commercial facility. A family recipe passed down for generations could become the beginning of a new Idaho business venture. The possibilities are endless.
This isn’t just about entrepreneurship, it’s also about food security, healthy food products and stronger more self-reliant communities. COVID reminded us how quickly store shelves can empty and supply chains can be disrupted. The more Idahoans who know how to grow, preserve, prepare and sell food locally, the more self-reliant our communities become. It also encourages skills Americans relied upon for generations like gardening, canning, preserving, baking, fermenting, dehydrating and turning locally grown food into products that can be stored, sold and shared.
More gardens. More farms. More home producers. More local food. More choices. Better health. Stronger families.
Greater freedom comes with responsibility, and producers still have requirements involving disclosures, ingredients, contact information, safe handling of applicable foods and recordkeeping. Certain products, like meat and dairy products, may be governed by additional requirements, and this law primarily creates a framework for direct-to-consumer sales within Idaho, not wholesale commercial food manufacturing.
Government doesn’t always have to respond to an issue by creating another license, fee, permit or bureaucracy. Sometimes the better answer is to remove unnecessary barriers and give responsible people room to create.
And maybe, the next great Idaho food company won’t begin in a corporate boardroom, but rather begin with a garden, a family recipe, and an Idaho kitchen.
If you’ve ever had someone tell you “You should sell this,” now might be the time to give it a try!
In Liberty,
Rep. Heather Scott
