Mango farm’s hi-tech boost
THE team from Marto’s Mangoes is set to be the first group of mango growers in Australia to implement new technology after being awarded a $250,000 grant, which will allow the business to create jobs and limit waste.
The $250,000 Rural Economic Development (RED) Grant will allow the company to create up to 62 jobs and purchase a new mango grader to assist with quality control.
Currently, the technology used means staff must select fruit at random and cut into it to check the quality, or use a NIR (near infra-red spectrometer) gun to measure maturity on a single piece of fruit, which are both time consuming and wasteful methods.
The funding will allow the farm to introduce more advanced technology to determine the maturity of every mango and check for internal imperfections, without having to sacrifice any fruit.
Marto’s Mangoes director Ben Martin said that they felt lucky to secure the funding, especially considering the current economic climate.
“There are a lot of businesses out there really struggling, so we were really lucky to secure that funding,” he said.
“It will mean we can grade our fruit at a much higher level than previously, so that we can guarantee the quality of every single piece of fruit in the tray.”
For more details about the RED Grant scheme, see qrida.qld.gov.au