Northern Territory farm has a total of 7000 Honey Gold trees including 3600 coming into production at the end of the year
Katherine-based Razor Rock Farms was named Piñata Farms’ Honey Gold Grower of the Year at its annual mango congress in Yeppoon, Central Queensland.
Nick Ormsby and Whitney Dollemore of Razor Rock Farms have 30ha of Honey Gold trees under production and have grown the premium variety since 2017.
Outside of Piñata Farms which has farms at Darwin and Katherine, Razor Rock Farms is the only other Territory grower among a network of some 30 third-party growers.
Ormsby said winning the award was an honour, given the depth of knowledge in the grower group.
“The grower group is made up of some of the best mango growers in Australia. There’s a lot of knowledge, understanding and sharing there and everyone strives to deliver quality fruit to the market,” he said.
“To be recognised in this way means our farm is producing great quality fruit. This benefits both the mango industry as a whole and the consumer.
“When are you a mango grower, there are no points for volume alone, you must get the quality right. The Honey Gold is a great quality mango, it’s orange as a mango should be, it has a great taste and shelf life, and we have support from a fantastic group of growers and Piñata Farms as marketers and distributors.”
Razor Rock Farms has a total of 7000 trees including 3600 coming into production at the end of the year.
Ormsby said ideal cool dry conditions leading up to last season positively impacted flowering last winter.
“The November harvest was slightly delayed but otherwise ran smoothly.”
Forecasting, yield and quality excellence
He said Razor Rock Farm produced 17,328 trays of mangoes during the 10-day harvest last season, an increase of 4,992 on the previous season.
Piñata Farms managing director Gavin Scurr said the grower award was based on several key metrics of excellence including forecasting accuracy, high premium packout percentage and communications throughout the season.
“Like all our third-party growers, Razor Rock Farms consistently produces great fruit – they always do a good job,” Scurr said.
“We strive every year to have a good packout, as quality over yield is our main goal. Last year we were rewarded with a 91 per cent premium packout and a high yield. I’m not sure how we got the forecasting right, it’s a little bit of calculating and a bit of black magic,” Ormsby said.
Third-party Honey Gold mango growers from the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia gathered at the Capricorn Coast for the two-day conference on April 21 and 22. The congress included presentations on 2025/2026 season outcomes and plans for the brand’s development ahead of next season.
It followed the most commercially successful Honey Gold season to date, with a 5 per cent volume increase on the previous season. Honey Gold mangoes were supplied nationally for 16 weeks from November 2025 to February 2026 – about two weeks longer than usual. The season was underpinned by exceptionally strong prices and record consumer demand, contributing to an above-average tray return to the grower.
Razor Rock Farms was also named Honey Gold Grower of the Year in 2021.
