On Saramat "Tou" Ruchkaew's mango farm, it's all systems go.
Packers and pickers are working seven days a week, 12 hours a day, in extreme heat and humidity, trying to get fruit off trees while it's perfectly ripe.
But time is running out — Ms Ruchkaew's farm is operating with less than half the staff it needs.
"Right now we only have 30 people, hence our fruit is still hanging on the tree," Ms Ruchkaew said.
"And if we had enough staff to pick we'd have about 60 per cent by now, but we are about 25-30 per cent behind."
Bigger Northern Territory farms seem to have snapped up enough workers to get the job done, but some smaller or independent farms have been short all season.
According to NT Farmers, the peak body for farmers in the Territory, the workforce required for mango season is about 2,000 workers.
At some points in the season, the number of workers has dwindled down to 1,400, but now the organisation believes it's closer to where it needs to be.
But some farms are telling a different story.
Ms Ruchkaew said just like other sectors trying to recover from COVID-19, farmers like her are crying out for workers.
"We are the bottom of the heap because [we are] out of sight out of mind," she said.
"People don't know we're also facing a big challenge."
She said the reason was due to a Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme stipulation, that only allows her to employ Pacific workers for a minimum of six months, when she needs them for much less.
Ms Ruchkaew said she could only afford to bring a small amount of workers down.
"What are we going to do for six months when we are picking for eight weeks?"
"It's economics 101 … it is very sad, very frustrating."
A spokesperson from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations said employers were required to ensure seasonal workers received a "reasonable Net Financial Benefit" during their deployment, which factors in duration of stay.
"The PALM scheme provides opportunities for Pacific and Timorese workers to develop skills, earn income and send money home to support their families and communities and the economic growth of their countries," the spokesperson said.
"This is harder to achieve with shorter deployments."
Strong yields expected despite setbacks
As predicted, a workforce shortage has left some growers unable to take full advantage of a successful mango season in the NT.
Despite that, NT Farmers predicts the industry will produce 4.6 million trays of mangoes — nearly one million more trays than last year.
Nationally, somewhere between nine and 10 million trays are expected to be packed.
Picking will wrap up in the Darwin area in the next couple of weeks, with the season in Katherine and Mataranka picking up now too.
Queensland farms are also expecting a strong yield.
'Work hard to get every fruit'
Timorese worker Ameu Soares Maia has been working on Tou's farm for seven years, and has noticed the smaller number of pickers out and about.
"Because [we] have less workers... we try to push and work hard to get every fruit," he said.
"Every farm needs workers because they don't want their food on the ground so they need a lot of workers to pick all the mangoes … but I don't know why this year, there's not enough workers."
Manon Denys and her partner, down from France, are also working in the Territory this year.
"In Australia it's very easy to find a job," she said.
While drier conditions have prevailed in the past week, earlier rain three weeks prior has spoiled some fruit.
At Leo Skliros' farm in Berry Springs, two of every three mangoes picked are rain affected.
"It's perfectly good on the inside, but damn ugly to look at," he said.
As many as possible have been sold for juicing, but many will go to waste and piles of them sit underneath mango trees around the packing centre.
All up, between unpicked fruit, transport shortages and rain damage, Mr Skliros, who is also the president of the NT Mango Industry Association, said 40 per cent of his crop will go to waste.
"People are down 60 to 40 per cent of their workforce — it's a real challenge," he said.
He said other growers had been calling him, asking him if his workers could pick on their farms once they've finished on his farm.
Workforce constraints could last for years
NT Farmers chief executive Paul Burke said he wanted more flexibility around visa arrangements to allow more overseas workers to help out.
"That would be a really helpful step forward — multiple entry visas — so once somebody is an accredited seasonal worker they can come back multiple times without going through a visa application process," he said.
But he acknowledged change would take time.
Australian Mango Industry Association chief executive Brett Kelly said the industry might struggle with workforce issues for a couple more years, as the world gets back to normal.
"You're probably going to have another year or two before things start to normalise, for people to get organised in terms of travel and labour hire, so there's no quick easy fix," he said.
"A lot of our growers I talk to are highly organised, they're planning well ahead and they're doing the best they can."
The PALM scheme allows farms to hire workers from 9 Pacific islands and Timor-Leste.
There have been multiple changes to the scheme, which died down during COVID, and slowly restarted with an intake of Timorese workers to the NT for the 2021 mango season.
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), there are more than 2,880 Timorese PALM scheme workers across Australia, 238 of which are working in the NT.
A DFAT spokesperson said the government was working to increase the number of PALM scheme workers in Australia to around 35,000 by June 2023.
"This was announced as part of the government's 2022-23 Budget and delivers on the commitment to expand and improve the PALM Scheme, benefiting Northern Territory employers," a DFAT spokesperson said.
The NT government is attempting to arrange "bespoke agreements" with Pacific nations in order to get more PALM workers down.
"Given these are bespoke agreements, there is no specific model," NT Minister for Business, Jobs and Training, Paul Kirby, said.
"We have been listening to NT Farmers and have written to Minister Giles and Penny Wong on elements of the PALM program that can be improved, to ensure these negotiations can progress in a timely and constructive manner.
"The Territory Labor government is also implementing a number of flexible workforce solution initiatives, which will be unveiled in the coming months."
