Three key major contributors to the development of the Australian mango industry were recognised for their outstanding commitment, at the Australian Mango Conference in Darwin earlier this month.
Peter Marks, together with his wife Dianne, set up one of the first horticultural operations in Katherine and were committed to the mango industry for the last 30 years.
As well as having served on both the Australian Mango Industry Association (AMIA) and Northern Territory Mango Industry Association boards, Mr Marks was an industry leader, producing high quality produce for domestic and export markets. He was also a strong advocate for the mango industry quality standards, in particular the flavour standards, measured by dry matter testing with near infrared (NIR) machines.
"I am a bit overwhelmed by this award, because it is not something that you expect," Mr Marks said. "I have always had a passion that the consumer had to be the one who made the rules, and if you didn't have a consumer, you didn't have an industry. I got a bit disillusioned and walked away for a bit, and I was so over-pleased when the industry decided to take the hard road and put some standards in place and publicise them. It has become such a good thing. We are growing 10 million trays now - that's exceptional - and if you keep giving people good mangoes, they are going to buy more and more. I congratulate everyone in the industry for taking that road and I think it will keep growing - it's nowhere near its potential."
Photo Robert Gray (AMIA CEO), Peter and Dianne Marks, Rob Vennard, Ken Rayner and Ben Martin (AMIA Chairman) - courtesy: AMIA
Ken Rayner was also recognised for his ongoing contribution to mango breeding. He has been cross-pollinating mango trees for over three decades; with the aim of producing advanced mango rootstocks and creating new varieties. Two new varieties have recently been commercialised; Lady Jane and Lady Grace.
"One of my passions has been rootstocks, and over a period of 30 years, I haven't found a really good rootstock yet," Mr Rayner quipped. "I have also been involved in breeding fruit varieties over the last 30 years, and a few of them have been propagated and put into commercial production. It's not only in Australia but we are taking them overseas into Spain, South Africa, we are making applications to take them into Brazil, Mexico, United States (trees currently in quarantine), Egypt is interested, and we have trees in Morocco. That's something that I am proud of, and sometimes get a bit emotional."
Rob Vennard was the visionary behind Manbulloo’s plantation in Katherine. At the time there was no other operation in existence like it and he is essentially responsible for transforming the Northern Territory (NT) mango industry. Mr Vennard also contributed to the development of exporting Australian mangoes, through his involvement in the grower marketing group Australian Mango Exports. He recalled stories of his early days in the industry at the Gala Dinner.
"I bought a property when I was 18 and started clearing it, and started planting mango trees," Mr Vennard said. "I always thought there was a bit of an outlet because we didn't have Victoria. Nothing about Singapore or Europe or anything like that, we didn't have Victoria. So we were going to create one there. But transport was the big thing back in those days. We sent our first cold transport out in 1971 - that was before there was any refrigerated containers. We took the fruit down to five degrees, and put it on the back of a flat top semitrailer, wrap it up in sisalation, double tarp it and hope you could get to Sydney on time. It took 3-6 days but they would get there in good condition."
Australian Mangoes CEO, Robert Gray, said Peter Marks, Ken Rayner and Rob Vennard were great visionaries who contributed enormously to making the Australian mango industry what it is today.
“It was a great conference and it was pleasing to see so many of our industry stakeholders in attendance. There truly was a great turn out from everyone in our industry, across the supply chain,” he said.