Specialty Honey Gold mango producer Piñata Farms has launched a major marketing campaign which asks consumers to "trust" the expertise of growers behind the brand.
Billboards launched in high traffic areas of Sydney and Melbourne in the lead-up to the season's peak in January feature general manager tropicals Stephen Scurr as the face of the campaign.
"This season we're championing the family of some 30 expert third party growers who produce Honey Golds to Piñata Farms' standard around Australia," managing director Gavin Scurr said.
“We're asking consumers to 'trust us, we grew it'. Our growers use the latest techniques and technologies combined with tried and tested practices honed through years of experience to produce Honey Golds.
"They apply Honey Gold specific knowledge to tree care, harvest and volume forecasting. Depending on the conditions in their growing region, they might have to tweak practices to achieve a consistent fruit quality including colour, taste and appearance. All our growers are committed to delivering Honey Golds which taste and look the same, no matter where they were grown.
"We want consumers to know that our growers put a lot of dedication, love and care into producing fantastic-tasting mangoes and are totally committed to excellence in everything they do throughout the supply chain. They're prepared to invest in the brand by expanding plantings, implementing the latest equipment and are eager adopters of technology - if it enhances the quality of our mangoes."
Honey Gold mangoes are produced in the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia at Piñata's own farms and that of some 30 contracted growers.
Piñata Farms has rewarded growers including announcing a Grower of the Year for their efforts at an annual Honey Gold Congress since 2009.
How growers exceed the Honey Gold standard
- Euri Gold Farms orchard manager Jeff Bowditch of Bowen last season forecasted volume to within one per cent accuracy and to within eight per cent at his own farm, Bowditch Farms combining heat sums and year-on-year observations following flowering.
- Razor Rock Farm grower Nick Ormsby of Katherine, Northern Territory last season achieved a 96 per cent premium packout rate. He won the 2021 Grower of the Year.
- Groves Grown Tropical Fruit of Yeppoon, Queensland, is collaborating with Central Queensland University to test autonomous harvesters and scanners to monitor flowering and predict a harvest start.
- Other growers have invested in leading orchard and packing shed technologies including significant harvesting equipment, grading and labelling systems.
Queensland harvest underway
The Queensland harvest is now underway at Bowen, Dimbulah, Giru and Mutchilba with Yeppoon and Rockhampton to start next week. There are also growers at Mareeba, Benaraby, Bundaberg, Childers, Mundubbera and Nararanga. Together they produce nearly 70 per cent of the entire Honey Gold crop.
Piñata Farms' "trust' campaign follows a refreshed branding presence launched last season.
The Honey Gold harvest which began in Darwin in early November, will continue until March. Honey Gold mangoes are available at leading supermarkets nationally where they fetch a premium.