Hawaii is known for its macadamia nuts. Lawmakers want to keep it that way

HONOLULU (AP) — For decades, tourists to Hawaii have brought home gift boxes of the islands’ famous chocolate-covered macadamia nuts for friends and family, but these days many of the kernels in the package might not be Hawaii-grown.

This little-known fact is surfacing at the state Legislature as lawmakers wrestle over legislation that would force macadamia-nut processors of iconic brands like Mauna Loa to disclose whether their products contain nuts from outside the islands.

Growers want the measure to protect their crops and farms, while commercial nut brands say what Hawaii needs is more capacity to process mac nuts locally.

It's the latest tussle over labels for agricultural products from a specific geographic area, a topic familiar to Hawaii due to long-running disputes over Kona coffee. It echoes similar challenges faced by maple syrup producers in Vermont and distilleries in Champagne, which have had to fend off sparkling wine producers from other places trying to appropriate the French region's name.

Foreign nuts are being “marketed cleverly as Hawaiian,” said Jeffrey Clark, chief operating officer of a trust that owns Hamakua Macadamia Nut Company.

“It’s not clear to consumers what is Hawaii grown and what is foreign grown," Clark told state lawmakers during a recent committee hearing. "It creates a problem for the farmers here in Hawaii.”

The stakes are high for Hawaii’s 600-plus macadamia nut farmers, many of whom have small operations. Combined, they produced $62.7 million in nuts in 2021, just ahead of coffee in value and second only to seed farms that research genetically engineered corn.

Growers say they can’t find buyers for their kernel and unharvested nuts are falling from their trees. Some farmers are giving up and trying to sell their equipment.

In response, state lawmakers are due to vote on legislation Wednesday that would require consumer packages to disclose when they contain macadamia nuts grown outside of Hawaii. The measure would take effect on Jan. 1, 2026, if it becomes law. The governor has not indicated whether he will sign it.

Macadamia nut trees are native to Australia and were introduced to Hawaii in 1881 by a Scotsman who managed a Big Island sugar mill. The first major attempt at commercial planting dates to 1948. Chocolate-covered macadamia nuts took off the following decade. In the 1970s and '80s, Hawaii harvested more than 10 times the amount of the next four major producers combined.

But today, Australia, South Africa, China and Kenya all grow more than Hawaii. In 2022, the state's production plummeted 29% from the year before, according to industry data.

Hawaiian Host Group sells macadamia nuts under some of the state's most venerable brands. Their rectangular boxes of Hawaiian Host chocolate-covered macadamia nuts are favorites of tourists and locals alike. Their blue-colored Mauna Loa cans and bags are among the most recognizable macadamia products on store shelves.

The company's chief administrative officer told lawmakers in a Senate committee hearing that the amount of foreign macadamia nuts the company buys varies depending on the Hawaii crop.

“We try to purchase as much local macadamias as the growers will sell to us,” Michelle Leon-Guerrero said.

CEO Ed Schultz told lawmakers his company buys one-third of the mac nuts grown in Hawaii. It's been doing so at a 35% premium to Australian prices in 2023 and that Hawaii's nuts need to be competitive with those from Down Under, he said.

He said what the industry needs is more processing capacity. Toward this end, Hawaiian Host wants the industry to form a co-op to run a new processing facility on the Big Island. Many growers are reluctant to join such a project without a labeling requirement that will differentiate their nuts from others around the world.

Nathan Trump, the president of the Hawaii Macadamia Nut Association, said Hawaii macadamia nuts have strong brand recognition. But he said the status quo turns the nuts into a commodity.

“When you look at things like Vermont maple syrup, New Zealand beef — different country of origin matters because quality matters to consumers,” he said. “If they understand the country of origin, I think they’ll be able to make the decision if they want to pay a higher price."

Vermont law says no maple product may be labeled as being from Vermont, or labeled in a way that implies it was, unless it was 100% produced in Vermont in compliance with state standards.

In Europe, Champagne makers came together in the 19th century to prevent sparkling wine makers operating elsewhere from using the French region’s name for their beverage. Today, European Union rules allow products to obtain a geographical designation if they have a specific link to where the product is made.

State Rep. Kristin Kahaloa's Big Island district sits on the western slopes of Mauna Loa, the volcano that is the namesake of the popular nut brand. She said smaller farmers and producers want both labeling requirements and more processing capacity, and she agrees.

“Mauna Loa is the name of our mountain,” Kahaloa said. “It’s about keeping a special agricultural product that is part of the fabric of our community on our island."

Packages of macadamia nuts are displayed on store shelves on Friday, April 26, 2024, in Honolulu. For decades, tourists to Hawaii have brought home gift boxes of the islands' famous chocolate-covered macadamia nuts for friends and family. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy)

Packages of macadamia nuts are displayed on store shelves on Friday, April 26, 2024, in Honolulu. For decades, tourists to Hawaii have brought home gift boxes of the islands' famous chocolate-covered macadamia nuts for friends and family. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy)

Packages of macadamia nuts are displayed on store shelves on Friday, April 26, 2024, in Honolulu. For decades, tourists to Hawaii have brought home gift boxes of the islands' famous chocolate-covered macadamia nuts for friends and family. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy)

A person looks at packages of macadamia nuts at a store on Friday, April 26, 2024, in Honolulu. For decades, tourists to Hawaii have brought home gift boxes of the islands' famous chocolate-covered macadamia nuts for friends and family. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy)

This 2020 photo provided by Island Harvest Hawaii shows macadamia nut trees in Kohala, Hawaii. Hawaii lawmakers are considering legislation that would require consumer packages to disclose when they contain macadamia nuts grown outside of Hawaii. They're hoping to protect local agriculture and ensure Hawaii will have locally grown macadamia nuts for years to come. (Crystal Grosshuesch via AP)

This 2020 photo provided by Island Harvest Hawaii shows a macadamia nut tree in Kohala, Hawaii. Hawaii lawmakers are considering legislation that would require consumer packages to disclose when they contain macadamia nuts grown outside of Hawaii. They're hoping to protect local agriculture and ensure Hawaii will have locally grown macadamia nuts for years to come. (Crystal Grosshuesch via AP)

This 2020 photo provided by Island Harvest Hawaii shows macadamia nut trees in Kohala, Hawaii. Hawaii lawmakers are considering legislation that would require consumer packages to disclose when they contain macadamia nuts grown outside of Hawaii. They're hoping to protect local agriculture and ensure Hawaii will have locally grown macadamia nuts for years to come. (Crystal Grosshuesch via AP)

This undated photo provided by Bonnie Self shows the Macadamia orchards in Naalehu, Hawaii. Hawaii lawmakers are considering legislation that would require consumer packages to disclose when they contain macadamia nuts grown outside of Hawaii. They're hoping to protect local agriculture and ensure Hawaii will have locally grown macadamia nuts for years to come. (Brad Nelson via AP)

This 2020 photo provided by Island Harvest Hawaii shows macadamia nuts and trees in Kohala, Hawaii. Hawaii lawmakers are considering legislation that would require consumer packages to disclose when they contain macadamia nuts grown outside of Hawaii. They're hoping to protect local agriculture and ensure Hawaii will have locally grown macadamia nuts for years to come. (Crystal Grosshuesch via AP)

Packages of macadamia nuts are displayed on store shelves on Friday, April 26, 2024, in Honolulu. For decades, tourists to Hawaii have brought home gift boxes of the islands' famous chocolate-covered macadamia nuts for friends and family. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy)

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Voters across Maryland and West Virginia will decide key primary elections Tuesday with big implications in the fight for the Senate majority this fall.

At the same time, Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican rival Donald Trump hope to project strength in low-stakes presidential primaries, while further down the ballot, two congressional candidates on opposite sides of the 2021 Capitol attack serve as a stark reminder that the nation remains deeply divided over the deadly insurrection.

In all, three states are hosting statewide primary elections on Tuesday — Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia — as Republicans and Democrats pick their nominees for a slate of fall elections. None are more consequential than Senate primaries in Maryland and West Virginia, where Republicans are eying pickup opportunities that could flip control of Congress' upper chamber for at least two years.

In Maryland, Republican former Gov. Larry Hogan expects to dominate the state's GOP Senate primary despite his years-long criticism of Trump, whom Hogan describes as a threat to democracy. The former two-term governor would be the blue state's first Republican senator in more than four decades.

On the Democratic side, Rep. David Trone has been locked in a contentious — and expensive — battle with Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.

Trone, the co-founder of the Total Wine & More national liquor store chain, has put more than $61 million of his own money into the race. That's just shy of the national record for self-funding a Senate campaign, with much of it going to a months-long TV ad blitz. The three-term congressman says he’s better positioned to beat Hogan in November as a progressive Democrat not beholden to special interests.

Race has been an issue in the primary, with Alsobrooks working to become Maryland’s first Black U.S. senator. Trone apologized in March for what he said was the inadvertent use of a racial slur during a budget hearing.

Alsobrooks has been endorsed by many of the state’s top officials, including Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Rep. Steny Hoyer and a long list of state lawmakers. She has campaigned on growing economic opportunity, investing in education and protecting abortion rights.

Republican Gov. Jim Justice and U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney are the leading GOP candidates in the race to replace Sen. Joe Manchin. With Manchin gone, the seat is almost guaranteed to turn red come November.

The Trump-endorsed Justice, a former billionaire with a folksy personality that’s made him wildly popular in the state, is the front-runner against Mooney and five other lesser-known Republicans. A former Democrat, Justice switched to the Republican Party in 2017. He announced the change at a Trump rally.

Mooney has tried to win over conservatives by labeling Justice a “RINO” — which stands for “Republican in name only” — who would support Democratic policies. Justice did support Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law, saying West Virginia couldn't afford to turn away the money offered in the bill. Mooney voted against it.

At a polling place in West Virginia’s capital city, voter Steve Ervin said his votes on Tuesday were directly related to Trump.

“I really did an exhaustive study of the sample ballot of who I believe supported Trump and Trump supported them,” said Ervin, who works in the state’s unemployment office. “That’s what I made my whole decision on.”

West Virginia is also deciding its candidates for governor.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, the Republican nominee in the 2018 Senate race against Manchin, is running for the Republican nomination. He’s up against former state Rep. Moore Capito, whose mother is Sen. Shelley Moore Capito.

Biden and Trump have already amassed enough delegates to claim the presidential nominations at their respective national conventions this summer. Yet voters on both sides hope to register a significant protest vote Tuesday that will demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the Biden-Trump rematch.

Maryland progressives especially unhappy with the Biden administration’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas are encouraging voters to select “uncommitted to any presidential candidate” instead of Biden. There is no uncommitted option in West Virginia or Nebraska.

Everett Bellamy, a Democrat who voted early in Annapolis, said he voted “uncommitted” instead of Biden as a protest against the killing of women and children and noncombatants in Gaza.

“I wanted to send a message,” Bellamy, 74, said after leaving an early voting center.

Meanwhile, Trump's Republican critics cannot choose “uncommitted,” but they can choose his former GOP rival Nikki Haley, who will appear on the ballot in Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia despite formally suspending her campaign more than two months ago.

Derek Faux, an independent voter from Charleston, W.V., said he supported Haley, and in other Republican races, he said he voted for the candidates he believed were least like Trump.

“I would rather see moderate, reasonable Republicans than some of the other folks,” said Faux, a librarian.

Tuesday's elections also include two candidates who were intimately involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

In West Virginia, a former member of the House of Delegates, Derrick Evans, is running for the Republican nomination in the 1st Congressional District. The 39-year-old Trump loyalist served a three-month jail sentence after livestreaming himself participating in the storming of the U.S. Capitol.

Evans is trying to oust incumbent Republican Rep. Carol Miller.

In Maryland, former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn is among nearly two dozen Democrats running in the state's 3rd Congressional District. The 40-year-old Democrat was in the Capitol working to repel the violent mob on Jan. 6.

In Nebraska, Republican Sens. Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts both face nominal opposition in their primaries, one of the rare occasions when both senators in a state are on the ballot at the same time. And in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon faces a challenge from his right flank.

In North Carolina, voters will finalize their pick in what has become a one-person Republican primary in the state's 13th Congressional District. Trump endorsed Brad Knott this month, leading his opponent to suspend her campaign.

This story has deleted an incorrect reference to a California election being Tuesday. The California election is next week.

Willingham reported from Charleston, West Virginia. Peoples reported from Washington.

Follow the AP's coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

FILE - U.S. Rep. David Trone, D-Md., speaks at a news conference Jan. 17, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Democrats voting in Maryland's contentious primary for U.S. Senate are divided about who is best positioned to beat Republican former Gov. Larry Hogan. Trone and Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks are the most prominent candidates in the Democratic primary. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

FILE - Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, center, listens during a bill hearing in Maryland, Jan. 23, 2020, in Annapolis, Md. Democrats voting in Maryland's contentious primary for U.S. Senate are divided about who is best positioned to beat Republican former Gov. Larry Hogan. Alsobrooks and Congressman David Trone are the most prominent candidates in the Democratic primary. (AP Photo/Brian Witte, File)

FILE - Former republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan visits the Bridge Boat Show in Stevensville, Md., April 12, 2024. Democrats voting in Maryland's contentious primary for Senate are divided about who is best positioned to beat Hogan. Congressman David Trone and Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks are the most prominent candidates in the Democratic primary. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Primaries in Maryland and West Virginia will shape the battle this fall for a Senate majority

Primaries in Maryland and West Virginia will shape the battle this fall for a Senate majority

Signs are pictured outside an early voting center on Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Rockville, Md. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump look to pad their delegate totals in Maryland Tuesday, May 14. Maryland voters will also decide contested primaries in a Senate race. Former GOP Gov. Larry Hogan's late entry into the race has given Republicans hope of a possible pick-up in a state that hasn't elected a Republican U.S. senator since 1980. The leading Democratic primary candidates are U.S. Rep. David Trone and Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks. (AP Photo/Robert Yoon)