State Senator Tim Richards at the committee hearing on Wednesday (from Senate livestream)

(BIVN) – A House bill relating to macadamia nut labeling requirements is moving through the Hawaiʻi State Legislature.

On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection recommended the passage of HB2278, with amendments.

From the language of the bill:

The legislature finds that Hawaii-grown commodities of the State are an important sector of Hawaii’s economy and the branding of these commodities is critical to protect and safeguard consumers. The macadamia nut production industry in Hawaii is one such example. According to statistics from the United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service, the value of the macadamia-nut crop in Hawaii in 2022 totaled $33,200,000.

Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to enhance, preserve, and protect the premium brand and cachet of Hawaii-grown macadamia nuts by clarifying the labeling requirements for macadamia nuts, including requiring the country of origin to be included on the principal display panel of a consumer package of raw or processed macadamia nuts.

Before the committee voted to advance the bill, a hearing was held at the Capitol. Macnut growers painted a gloomy forecast for the industry.

“The macnut industry is in sharp decline,” said Andrew Trump of Island Harvest Inc. in support of the bill. “There continues to be misleading labeling on the shelves of supermarkets, and this is preventing Hawaiʻi macnut farmers from being able to distinguish their products.”

“We just want transparency, in terms of how we are able to market our products, and consumers to be able to recognize that,” Trump said.

“We have nuts from Kenya and South Africa that are grown at half the price,” said Suzanne Shriner of the Synergistic Hawaii Agriculture Council, also in support of the bill. “We have China coming online with millions of trees over the next five years that are absolutely going to crash the global market for macademia nuts. The one way that we can stand out and protect our growers here in Hawaiʻi is through proper labeling. If it says Hawaiʻi on the label, we have the origin on the label, we can protect our growers here. Our brand stands out.”

“One of the things that SHAC does is we receive federal marketing grants on behalf of coffee, papaya, macadamia nuts, and floriculture,” Shriner added. “And I can tell you the global market is hungry for Hawaiian products and they want to see that on the label.”

Opposition to the bill came from the Hawaiian Host Group, in business for almost 100 years and employing over 450 people. The company says future plans include “a world class macadamia processing facility in Keaʻau that would widely benefit the industry and our community.”

“This bill is not just about labeling. This bill will put local jobs at risk and hurt local businesses like ours,” said Michelle Leon-Guerrero of the Hawaiian Host Group. “We can all agree with the Hawaiʻi macademia industry at-large is facing difficult times, but the solution is not through stringent labeling. We need time to develop a plan that will increase processing capacity in Hawaiʻi. That is what will help our industry move forward. This bill will make it more complicated and expensive… for growers and processors like HHG to be able to operate in Hawaiʻi.” 

“We’ve been the primary purchaser and processor for all the small growers and this bill makes that so much harder to continue to sustain,” Leon-Guerrero said.

Leon-Guerrero faced some questioning from Hawaiʻi Island State Senator Tim Richards (D, District 4). “We’ve dealt with this in the the cattle industry before,” Sen. Richards said. “I tried to get at this a year ago and didn’t get any response from your group when I was trying to work on this a year ago.”

“Do you believe and do you support truth and labeling?” Richards asked.

“Senator, I believe that we are producing in Hawaiʻi and doing our best to ensure that we are purchasing as much local macademia as we can,” Leon-Guerrero answered.

“I fully support what you guys are trying to do,” Sen. Richards said, “but I think we need to protect our branding. So, I hear what you’re saying. Do you see a common ground or middle ground in this?”

Leon-Guerrero answered: “I think it requires discussion which I know that you, you know we…”

“Which I tried to start a year ago, correct?” Richards interrupted.

“And I apologize,” Leon-Guerrero said, “and I came to you and said that this was definitely something that we wanted to work through with the committee.”

“This is time sensitive because we have farmers that are on the cusp,” Richards said.

“My concern,” commented State Senator Angus McKelvey (D, District 6), “if Mac nuts from China are like two cents a nut, and all of this is being just looked at it’s simply price point inventory, then I could easily see a box of your products being 100% from China. And that’s kind of my concern because if economics is the the arbiter of supply, then you could have that could play out, right? You could have a situation where we have 70-80% of our products are macnut from overseas ’cause it’s cheaper for us to bring them in.”

“I understand that concern,” Leon-Guerrero responded, “and that is why we have been focused on trying to figure out how we can work together to build a processing facility, so we can process all of the macadamias here in Hawaiʻi and not have them go overseas to places like China to be processed. And not be clear on what is actually coming back. And if they truly are Hawaiian macademias.”

“I think that’s something that pretty everybody agrees on is more processing facilities for these guys, and a whole lot of other ag producers,” McKelvey said.

During decision making, committee chair Senator Jarrett Keohokalole recommended to adopt the language contained in Senate Bill 3303 SD2, “which was the companion measure heard in the Senate earlier in the session,” as the measure moves forward.