For decades, tourists to Hawaii have brought home gift boxes of the islands’ famous chocolate-covered macadamia nuts for friends and family

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

Growers want measures 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.

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.