Japan’s secret to US$230 winter mangoes: A farmer tricks the fruit

Hiroyuki Nakagawa uses Hokkaido's snow and onsen hot springs to his advantage to grow mangoes. - ILLUSTRATION: UNSPLASH

TOKYO (Bloomberg): Wearing a white tank top inside a foggy greenhouse at his farm in Otofuke on the island of Hokkaido in Japan, Hiroyuki Nakagawa plucks ripened mangoes ready to be packed and shipped. Outside the temperature is a freezing -8C on a clear December day, but inside the greenhouse the thermometer clocks in around 36 deg C.

Nakagawa has been growing mangoes in the snowy Tokachi region of Japan’s northernmost island since 2011. He sells them for as much as US$230 each. He never thought an experiment in sustainable farming would one day yield the world’s most expensive mangoes.