summary
Introduced
06/12/2025
06/12/2025
In Committee
12/15/2025
12/15/2025
Crossed Over
Passed
Dead
01/12/2026
01/12/2026
Introduced Session
2024-2025 Regular Session
Bill Summary
This bill designates the hazelnut as the State nut. Hazelnuts are part of a growing multi-billion-dollar industry and hazelnut products include nut butters, baked goods, and candy. The United States accounts for five percent of hazelnut production worldwide. Hazelnuts grown in the U.S. come almost exclusively from the Willamette Valley in Oregon. The eastern filbert blight is a fungal disease that can be lethal to commercially grown hazelnuts. The disease has prevented New Jersey and other states outside of the Pacific Northwest from growing hazelnuts commercially. In 1996, Rutgers University started a program to develop hazelnuts resistant to the disease. In 2020, Rutgers University released to growers its first hazelnut varieties that are resistant to the eastern filbert blight. The new varieties are named "Raritan," in honor of the river whose banks upon which Rutgers University's New Brunswick campus lies, as well as "Somerset," "Monmouth," and "Hunterdon," in honor of some of the first New Jersey counties where the trees are being grown. New Jersey is the first state on the East Coast to grow this cash crop.
AI Summary
This bill designates the hazelnut as the official state nut of New Jersey, recognizing the crop's growing economic importance and scientific significance. The bill highlights that hazelnuts are part of a multi-billion-dollar industry, with global production primarily concentrated in Turkey, and the United States accounting for only five percent of worldwide production. Historically, the eastern filbert blight, a fungal disease, prevented hazelnut cultivation in states outside the Pacific Northwest. However, Rutgers University initiated a research program in 1996 to develop blight-resistant hazelnut varieties, successfully releasing four new varieties in 2020 named after New Jersey locations: Raritan, Somerset, Monmouth, and Hunterdon. These developments have enabled New Jersey to become the first East Coast state to grow hazelnuts commercially, with over 30 growers already planting more than 100 acres of trees. By officially recognizing the hazelnut as the state nut, the bill celebrates the scientific achievement of developing blight-resistant varieties and the potential economic opportunities for New Jersey's agricultural sector.
Committee Categories
Government Affairs
Sponsors (3)
Last Action
Reported out of Assembly Committee, 2nd Reading (on 12/15/2025)
Official Document
bill text
bill summary
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bill summary
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bill summary
| Document Type | Source Location |
|---|---|
| State Bill Page | https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/bill-search/2024/A5766 |
| Analysis - Statement ASL 12/15/25 | https://pub.njleg.gov/Bills/2024/A6000/5766_S1.PDF |
| BillText | https://pub.njleg.gov/Bills/2024/A6000/5766_I1.HTM |
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