by Matt Brann, abc news
The bulk of Australia’s mango harvest is still months away, but consumers can now expect fruit to trickle in from the Northern Territory.
In what is becoming an annual event, the first mangoes were picked from Leo Skliros’ farm near Darwin, who remains tight-lipped on how he gets his trees to fruit so early.
He said his first trays of the year will be sent to the Brisbane markets and he was expecting them to sell for around $100 to $120 a tray.
“We’ll be picking some next weekend of which a few might be going down to Sydney and Melbourne, but that’s yet to be decided,” he said.
“I’ll see how much money people are willing to pay.
“We’re a business and it’s all about the dollar.”
Mr Skliros said the Northern Territory’s main mango harvest was likely to start in September.
“We expect a fair bit of fruit to be coming off in September with the main crop coming in around mid-October.”
He said the first day of picking and packing is always an exciting time for the farm.
“To be honest it’s pretty boring on the farm when it’s not mango season,” he said.
“There’s a bit of noise around the place and you get a lot more visitors, otherwise I’ve just got trees to look at all day and it’s pretty boring.”
Green mangoes, normally the Nam Doc Mai variety, have been in the markets since early June.
Source: abc news