On-farm licensed raw milk sales are legal in Oregon under ORS Chapter 621. No retail store or off-farm delivery distribution is authorized. Farm-direct access is available from licensed producers statewide.
Oregon permits on-farm raw milk sales under Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 621 (Oregon Dairy Products Laws), administered by the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA). Producers must hold a raw milk license from the ODA and comply with herd health requirements, bacterial and somatic cell count standards, sanitation requirements, and labeling rules. Oregon does not authorize retail store distribution or off-farm delivery of raw milk; consumers must purchase directly at the licensed farm. Oregon's raw milk framework has been the subject of ongoing legislative advocacy seeking to expand access to off-farm sales and delivery, with hearings held in the 2023 session on bills to allow broader farm-direct marketing, none of which passed into law.
Oregon's raw milk environment has also been shaped by regulatory pressure from the commercial dairy industry. In 2024, the Oregon Department of Agriculture required licensed raw milk farmers to register as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) following complaints from large commercial dairy interests, adding compliance burden to small-scale raw milk producers and highlighting the ongoing tensions between farm-direct food movements and industrial agriculture in Oregon. Oregon's raw milk consumer market is active, particularly in the Portland metro area, Eugene, and the Willamette Valley, where demand for farm-direct and unprocessed food products is high. Advocates continue to pursue legislative pathways toward off-farm delivery and eventual retail store access.
Latest developments and news related to raw milk in Oregon
The Oregon Department of Agriculture requires licensed raw milk producers to register as CAFOs following complaints from commercial dairy interests, adding compliance costs to small farm-direct operations.
Read Article →Oregon holds legislative hearings in 2023 on bills to authorize expanded raw milk distribution, including off-farm and farmer market sales beyond the current on-farm-only license.
Read Article →An overview of Oregon policy proposals to expand farm-direct raw milk access beyond the current on-farm-only framework to include off-farm sales and producer delivery.
Read Article →Official government documents and legal resources for Oregon
Limits the quantity of cows, goats, and sheep. Cannot advertise milk for sale. Only on-farm sales are legal.
View Official Resource →Oregon Dairy Products Laws, including ORS 621.012 authorizing small-scale on-farm raw milk sales with animal quantity limits.
View Official Resource →Search for raw milk sources near popular locations in Oregon
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From Bronze Age gold cups to a scholar’s field notes on a dying herd, three thousand years of writers described the aurochs before it went extinct in 1627.
From Mycenaean gold cups to a Macedonian king’s temple offering, the aurochs was a mark of status across Greece and Rome long before Caesar wrote about it.
Herberstein and Schneeberger left the last eyewitness accounts of the aurochs before its 1627 extinction, from a royal gift calf to a dying herd’s final count.
Caesar’s account of the aurochs in De Bello Gallico is among the earliest surviving descriptions of cattle’s wild ancestor. The full Latin passage, examined.
Belgium’s FAVV circular specifically governs raw milk vending machines, requiring placement within 80km of the producing farm and daily milk replacement. Bilingual guide to rauwe melk and lait cru in Belgium.
Spain requires raw milk direct sales to be packaged nationally. Catalonia went further with Decreto 163/2018, authorizing farm gate sales, retail, and automated vending machines: three years before the national framework caught up.
