Kensington Pride

Katherine seemed to be a little bit more constant, and that's due mainly to the Calypso variety.

So the large numbers of Calypsos and I, I guess the weather is more, plays more variant on the Kensington Pride.

So that's, that's why Katherine is still looking okay, and I, I wish Katherine all the luck, and I hope Darwin finds a bit more fruit.

And Angus, that's all for Rural News.

So let's start with what is our pick of the crop in shop this week?

The pick of, the pick of the crop this week, James, is the beautiful Northern Territory Kensington Pride mangoes.

Mm.

Now, over the last couple weeks, the price has been coming down-

Yep.

Nicer flavor, absolute gorgeous eating.

So, um, the, the nice Kensington Pride's, they've got beautiful blush on them now.

The fruit's really matured up a bit, and it's eating absolutely magnificent, so beautiful eaten by themselves, you know, added to salads, made into smoothies.

But grower Jo Bumback says the early signs suggest only some of them are going to produce any fruit.

And she doesn't hold much hope for her Kensington Pride trees.

It looks like that the R2E2s, which are the big ox heart mango, have flowered quite well and have got some really good fruit set.

It's not brilliant, but at least it's there.

The Kensington Pride are really hit and miss.

The bigger, some bigger trees that have been really neglected were full of flower.

But because they're so tall, it's really hard to see how the fruit set has gone.

I could just see the lower bits of fruit set.

But mangoes, they do fluctuate up and down all the time.

I think the Northern Territory had a fairly big season last year and their industry is based largely on the Kensington Pride variety.

And the Kensington Pride is notorious for being somewhat biennial, bearing, so only produces big yields every second year.

So how are other mango growers in the Ord Valley looking?

There are a number of growers that are doing, it looks like they have a reasonable crop.

But the last two or three years, most fruit have had significantly higher prices and so it's become more sustainable.

Kununurra mango and fruit grower Chris Robinson speaking to Jess Baker about the mango season in the Kimberley.

And they grow mostly Kensington Pride and also the R2E2 mangoes.