My wife and I are currently living in Ohio though we are natives of New Hampshire. She is currently going to school for nursing and we will be heading back to New England when she's done. When we move back I would like to start a small farm operation(possibly with my brother-in-law) and need a little guidance on what I should be searching for and information I should be gathering in regards to regulations and legal information. Since our family lives in the south west corner of New Hampshire we could conceivably end up in 1 of 3 states, either NH, MA, or VT so I need to hunt down all federal legalities and then need to compile each of those states to determine which of the 3 states would be move suited to my needs. My focus will be around produce, herbs, possibly maple syrup and maybe landscaping plants but poultry, beef, and pigs may come at some point.

So I'm looking for information on what you can and cannot (unless you...) sell at various venues (direct to restaurants, on-site farm stand/store, farmer's markets) in regards fresh goods, processed goods (jams, sauces, apple cider, breads, cheese, bacon, etc...), and goods made off-site at another farm.

Any resources like books that would be good for details about the business setup process specific to farms would be appreciated too.

Thanks,

Eric