WHILE Bowen may be synonymous with the big mango, another growing region just south of Townsville is sharing the summer fruit spotlight this season.
The Pappalardo family of Marathon Man Go began producing mangoes on a small block in Giru 30 years ago and have since spread their operation to Georgetown, in the Gulf.
They now have 95,000 trees producing Kensington Pride and R2E2 varieties over their 160 hectare farm on the Gilbert River and 260ha operation at Giru.
Alfio Pappalardo said the growing conditions were quite different in the two regions, which allowed them to expand their season for longer.
"Georgetown was just an opportunity at the time and the soil and growing conditions up there are a lot different to here," Mr Pappalardo said.
"The fruit is just spectacular and it comes a bit earlier than this property in Giru, so we can start the season a little earlier and extend it for our customers."
The Georgetown season goes from mid-October to mid-November, while Giru starts in mid-November and goes through until Christmas.
Mr Pappalardo said while production was down at the Gilbert River farm this year, Giru had produced well with weather conditions ideal for harvest.
Their mangoes are sold on the domestic market in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne and also to the export market - a challenge for all producers this year.
But despite that, Mr Pappalardo said the market for quality produce was strong.
"Because the NT was down on production this year, the demand has exceeded supply so both the Georgetown and Giru farm have been able to capatilise on the shortfall in supply.
"The market has been strong and the quality of the fruit has been really good."
Like most across the agriculture sector, Mr Pappalardo said they had trouble attracting staff.
"We're scraping through, getting the job done, calling on family, friends, school kids and uni leavers to make do and we've done pretty well so far."
The family will be the face of the summer favourite next year, after they were approached to do a fun photo shoot to both celebrate the mango and help Aussies in need.
Alongside wife Katie, parents Sam and Josie, and sister Loretta and her husband Brad Bowen, Sandy Cove Mango Plantation, the family ditched the flannies and work boots for the glam shoot, an initiative of Hort Innovation and Australian Mangoes to support Foodbank.
"They wanted to celebrate the king of fresh fruits and come up with something a bit different and glam to show off that fruit," Mr Pappalardo said.
"I was a bit apprehensive at first, it's totally different to what we do rolling around in the dirt and sun and stuff.
"It was 100 per cent for a good cause, Foodbank do a sensational job providing 75 million meals to people in need last year.
"It's to build awareness to the hunger problem here in Australia which is sometimes forgotten, and to celebrate the fresh mangoes we do grow here in the north."
The Australian Mangoes calendar marks the start of summer and the peak of the season, with Aussies expected to indulge in close to 200 million mangoes.
Proceeds from sales of the 2021 calendars will support the work of Foodbank Australia.
