Seal aims to capitalize on Hawaii tourism image

The state unveils a new "Hawaii Seal of Quality" for agricultural products

At a luncheon featuring a menu of locally grown produce, state officials and farmers unveiled yesterday the new "Hawaii Seal of Quality," a branding designation aimed at increasing the profile of island-grown crops, such as Kona coffee, tropical flowers and grass-fed beef.

Four years in the making, the seal is meant to harness the power of the islands' worldwide recognition as a tourist destination associated with the marketable qualities of purity, beauty and quality. The seal itself employs the same typeface used for years by the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau in its multicolored Hawaii logo.

Similar marketing strategies for local products already have popped up in Vermont and New York. Hawaii's was mandated by a law passed by the Legislature in 2002.

The seal will enable products truly grown and produced in Hawaii to better compete with copycats, said Matthew Loke, the administrator of the seal of quality program.

Using the word "Hawaii" in the marketing of a product is a powerful tool and many companies use the state's name on their products though they have no connection to the islands, he said.

"We can't ban those products from being sold in Hawaii. But we can definitely compete with them," he said.

One of the goals behind the seal is encouraging diversity in Hawaii's agricultural industry now that sugarcane and pineapple companies have left or are leaving the state.

The 12 founding members using the new seal include a wide range of companies, including the North Shore Cattle Co.,Manoa Honey Co. andAlii Kula Lavender, which needed to show their products were indeed grown in the islands and were up to the quality standards of the seal.

The process of approving a company for the seal takes up to 45 days, Loke said.

Milton Agadar is himself a former employee of the sugar industry and is now a co-owner ofTwin Bridge Farmson the North Shore of Oahu. Fifteen of his employees are also former sugarcane workers.

For his company the seal, for now, is more about highlighting the quality of his produce than shooting for an export market.

"We plant asparagus. We're the only ones doing it. So we can barely supply the local market right now," Agadar said.

The variety of vanilla that James Reddekopp grows on his Big Island farm is raised throughout the world.

However, the seal will help get the word out that Hawaiian Vanilla Co. Inc.sells the only bean grown on U.S. soil, he said.

And with its roots in paradise, that vanilla is of a particularly high quality, he said.