{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Welcome to the Arena from ICR – Conversations with Today's Innovators & Business Leaders","title":"John Kiernan, President & CEO, Alico – Growing Oranges to Growing Communities: How weather and disease forced one of the nation's largest citrus producers to pivot to real estate","html":"<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https://share.transistor.fm/e/73ee5032\"></iframe>","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1532,"description":"In their 125 years in existence, Alico had grown to become one of America's leading citrus producers. In January 2025, owing to adverse weather events and crop disease, they made the difficult decision to wind down their citrus operations and adopt a new real estate-focused business model.\n\nToday, we sit down with John Kiernan, president and CEO of Alico, which trades on the NASDAQ under the symbol ALCO. John has been overseeing Alico's recent efforts to transition out of the citrus industry towards a strategy that makes full use of their extensive holdings in Florida real estate, valued somewhere between 650-750 million dollars.\n\nGoing from growing oranges to building communities is no easy feat. John explains how Alico is leveraging their great team, and ample liquidity, to make it work.\n\n\nHighlights:\nAlico's history (2:10)\nAlico's land holdings (4:09)\nPivot to Real Estate (5:03)\nFlorida Population Growth (6:04)\nA Diversified Land Company (8:18)\nShareholder Returns (10:35)\nAlico's Identity (12:18)\nAlico's Role in Development (13:30)\nCorkscrew Grove (14:53)\nRegulatory Hurdles (17:22)\nEntitlements (1945)\nMitigating Risk (22:18)\n\nLinks:\nJohn's LinkedIn\nAlico LinkedIn\nAlico Website\nICR LinkedIn\nICR Twitter\nICR Website\n\n \nFeedback:\nIf you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, joe@lowerstreet.co.","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/VPbFZOgoHk78hrWlplrfMSrQROUNxI8jcZ2Gv-hyKm4/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9mYmFh/NWFlNGJjY2Y0NGFk/YmM2NWJiMTI4NmVh/OWQ4Yi5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}