California fertilizer registration, licensing, mill assessment and tonnage

To sell packaged home-and-garden fertilizer into California, you need a California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) fertilizing materials license for each business location, and each specialty fertilizer label must be registered before it is sold. As of October 2026 the license costs $100 for a two-year term, and a new label registration costs $200 for four years. After that you pay a quarterly mill assessment on your dollar sales and file a semiannual tonnage report by county, including zero reports.

Who regulates fertilizer in California

The program is run by the Feed, Fertilizer, and Livestock Drugs Regulatory Services (FFLDRS) Branch of CDFA's Inspection Services Division. Licensing, registration, payments, mill assessments, tonnage reports and staff correspondence all go through CDFA's online ExtraView database (inspect.cdfa.ca.gov/evj/ExtraView). Paper forms still exist.

The business-location license

CDFA requires anyone who manufactures or distributes fertilizing materials in California to hold a license for each plant and business location. That applies to locations outside the state too. A location in another state or country needs a California license if it distributes directly into California or its name appears on the product label. So a brand in Texas shipping orders into California from its own warehouse licenses that warehouse location.

• Fee: $100 per location as of October 2026.
• Term: Licenses run from January 1 of an odd-numbered year to December 31 of the next even-numbered year. The current term ends December 31, 2026. Fees are not prorated, so a license issued this fall still expires at the end of 2026.
• Renewal: $100 per location. A renewal received after January 31 is delinquent and carries a $50 penalty. If it is still delinquent after February 28 of the odd-numbered year, the penalty is $100 per location. For the 2027–2028 term, that makes January 31, 2027 the date to beat.

Label registration

What needs registering

Food and Agricultural Code section 14563 defines specialty fertilizer as packaged commercial fertilizer labeled for home gardens, lawns, shrubbery, flowers and similar noncommercial uses. CDFA's guide says the N-P-K can be any value: what makes a product specialty is that it is intended for home and garden use. Unlike Florida, California's test does not depend on package size.

Specialty fertilizers, packaged agricultural minerals, beneficial substances and all organic input materials need label registration. Conventional commercial fertilizer sold only for agricultural or professional use (farms, golf courses, commercial landscaping) does not. It still needs a compliant label and a licensed guarantor, though. If the same product is marketed for home and garden use, it is a specialty fertilizer and must be registered. See specialty vs commercial fertilizer.

Fees, term and review time

As of October 2026:

• New registration: $200 per label for a four-year registration. CDFA treats this as a label review fee that is neither refunded nor prorated.
• Renewal: $100 per label. A renewal is delinquent if it isn't received within one calendar month from the start of your group's registration cycle. Delinquent renewals pay a $50 penalty and don't get provisional status. On time with no substantive label changes, you can get provisional registration for up to six months while CDFA reviews it.
• Review time: CDFA's program page says registration generally takes 60 to 90 days and suggests starting six months before your planned first sale. Each submission or resubmission can take up to 90 days to get a reviewer response. CDFA's guide also says fewer than one in ten labels it receives are ready to approve without revisions or more data. If you don't answer a deficiency letter within 180 days, you have to start a new registration.
• Label changes: Any change to a registered label must be approved before product with the new label is sold. Changing the guaranteed analysis, derivation statement, product name, ingredient list or active ingredient statement requires a new registration.

The four-year cycle and the Group 2 transition

Senate Bill 1522 (Chapter 208, Statutes of 2024) extended registrations from two years to four, and CDFA began the four-year cycle on January 1, 2025. Firms are grouped by the first letter of the firm name, and each group moves over on its own schedule.

CDFA has posted separate notices for the other groups, so read the one for your firm's group. Your actual expiry dates appear on the Certificate of Registration in ExtraView.

Heavy-metal data

California regulations (3 CCR sections 2302 and 2303) set limits on arsenic, cadmium and lead. A product that guarantees iron, manganese, zinc or phosphates from inorganic sources needs a metals information statement on the label. The application form, 513-023, lists heavy-metal data as required documentation and puts it in the public domain along with your product name and guarantees.

CDFA's guide recommends the label statement that points to the AAPFCO metals page. It also recommends submitting, at registration, an analysis no more than 5 years old covering nine metals: arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, copper, lead, mercury, molybdenum, nickel and selenium. If the analysis is more than 5 years old at renewal, you need new results. For more, see heavy metals and fertilizer registration.

The quarterly mill assessment

The mill assessment is charged on sales dollars, not tons. For packaged fertilizer, form 513-015 says it is paid by the licensee whose name appears on the label as manufacturer or guarantor. Specialty fertilizer sales go on their own line.

• Due dates: April 30, July 31, October 31 and January 31, one calendar month after each quarter ends.
• Penalty: 15 percent of the assessment due. A delinquency of more than 90 days is grounds for canceling the license.
• No sales: mark "NONE" and file anyway.

The rate is unsettled. As of October 2026, two official sources disagree:

• Form 513-015 (Rev. 05/2022) calculates total sales × 0.0025, which is $2.50 per $1,000. That matches CDFA's 2019 regulation text, which set the main assessment at 1.5 mills, plus the separate 1-mill assessment for research and education.
• CDFA's program page says the current assessment is 1 mill plus 1 mill for research, or 0.002 in total ($2.00 per $1,000).

On $40,000 of California sales in a quarter, that is the difference between $100 and $80. ExtraView calculates the assessment, but confirm the current rate with CDFA rather than relying on either figure.

The semiannual tonnage report

Form 513-033 collects statistics and carries no per-ton fee. It is reported by the last licensee that sells or distributes to unlicensed purchasers. A brand selling direct to consumers is that licensee.

• Due dates: January 31 and July 31, each covering the preceding six months. A late report carries a $200 penalty under Food and Agricultural Code section 14623.
• By county: On paper you use a separate form for each county, with the county code numbers printed on the form. You can also file in ExtraView.
• Whole tons: Report in whole tons, rounded.
• What to report for home-and-garden products: Non-farm tons, which covers registered specialty fertilizer and packaged agricultural minerals, are reported as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and agricultural mineral materials, split between dry and liquid.
• Zero reports are required. If you have nothing to report, including amounts under one ton after rounding, check the "no data to report" box, sign it and submit it.

The form requires a breakdown of raw materials: you report how much of each nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium ingredient is in your formula, with unlisted materials under "All Other Material." In practice you need your formula's ingredient list from your manufacturer, because the N-P-K grade on the bag doesn't say which raw materials supplied it. Ship 4-lb bags of 10-10-10 into Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento counties, and you report each county separately, by ingredient category. See tonnage reports explained.

Signing, filing and paying

• ExtraView: Choose "Enroll New User" to set up an account. From there you apply, renew, pay, file mill assessments and tonnage reports, and read CDFA correspondence.
• On paper: Checks for the mill assessment and registrations are payable to CDFA-419 and go to P.O. Box 942875, Sacramento, CA 94271-2875, with the original form. Paper tonnage reports go to FFLDRS, 1220 N Street, Sacramento, CA 95814.
• Signature: Each form is signed by an authorized representative, who certifies that the information is true and correct. The mill form also asks for the signer's title.

Common mistakes

• Licensing the company instead of the location. Each business location that distributes into California or appears on the label needs a license.
• Missing the renewal. The 2027–2028 license renewal is delinquent after January 31, 2027.
• Treating the two filings as one. The mill assessment is quarterly, on dollars. The tonnage report is semiannual, on tons by county.
• Skipping zero reports. Both filings want one when there is nothing to report.
• Changing a label without approval. A new guaranteed analysis, name or derivation statement means a new registration.
• Missing the Group 2 renewal. Firms starting with A–C or a numeral owe the $37.50 transitional renewal.
• Letting heavy-metal data go stale. Analyses over 5 years old must be replaced at renewal.
• Selling before approval. CDFA says selling an unregistered fertilizer product in California is unlawful. If it has happened, see sold fertilizer without registering.

Figures are as of October 2026. Confirm with CDFA before you file. For how California compares with other states, see how to register fertilizer in every state.

Sources

• CDFA: Fertilizing Materials Inspection Program
• CDFA: Conventional Fertilizing Materials Licensing, Registration, & Labeling Guide (Rev. 05.26.26)
• CDFA: Notice to Industry, Four-Year Registration Cycle, Group 2 (May 1, 2026)
• CDFA form 513-023: Conventional Fertilizing Material Label Registration Application
• CDFA form 513-015: Fertilizing Materials Mill Assessment Form
• CDFA form 513-033: Tonnage Report for Fertilizers, Agricultural Minerals, and Compost
• CDFA: Final regulation text, 3 CCR §§2303–2326.1 (2019)
• CDFA: Final regulation text, 3 CCR §§2326.1–2326.2, mill assessments and penalties