Why Leading Florida Ag Producer Alico Is Squeezing Out Citrus From Its Portfolio

Fort Myers, FL-based Alico Inc. is looking to take its business in a new direction. The longtime leaders in Florida citrus production and beyond announced it will wind down its Alico Citrus division to focus on its long-term diversified land usage and real estate development strategy.

Alico’s citrus division has faced growing and economic challenges in recent times. This primarily from HLB (aka, citrus greening) and environmental factors, including multiple major hurricanes. The company says it will not spend further capital on its citrus operations after the current crop is harvested in 2025.

The new transition for Alico will include reducing most of its citrus production workforce effective immediately. The company says it expects approximately 3,460 citrus acres will be managed by third-party caretakers for another season through 2026.

According to a news release, Alico expects to maintain a hand in the Florida agriculture industry through diversified farming operations on nearly all its land holdings following this citrus production transition. The company also expects to entitle certain parcels of its land for commercial and residential development.

John Kiernan, Alico’s President and Chief Executive Officer, provided the following thoughts in the company news release: “For over a century, Alico has been proud to be one of Florida’s leading citrus producers and a dedicated steward of its agricultural land. But we must now reluctantly adapt to changing environmental and economic realities. Our citrus production has declined approximately 73% over the last 10 years, despite significant investments in land, trees and citrus disease treatments, and the current harvest will likely be lower in volume than the previous season. The impact of hurricanes Irma in 2017, Ian in 2022, and Milton in 2024 on our trees, already weakened from years of citrus greening disease, has led Alico to conclude that growing citrus is no longer economically viable for us in Florida.”

The December 2024-2025 Florida orange crop estimate from USDA is 12 million boxes. Last season, Florida’s all-orange production finished about 18 million boxes. To put things in perspective on how much has changed in the last couple decades: During the 1997-1998 season, 244 million boxes of oranges (a record high) were harvested in Florida.

Alico owns roughly 53,371 acres of land across eight counties in Florida, as well as nearly 49,000 acres of oil, gas, and mineral rights in the state.

For more information on Alico’s new business strategy, click here.