One of the largest cow-calf operations in the country, Alico Inc., created in 1898 as a subsidiary of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, is getting out of the cattle business so it can focus on citrus, reports Drovers. Alico has some 9,000 head on a huge ranch in southern Florida, “but even when profitable, ranch operations generated a minimal rate of return on capital,” said the company.
Citrus is going to be a focus of the company’s plans for the future. The company has 71,000 acres, most of it in Hendry County, said Drovers. Alico will lease its grazing land to other ranchers and will continue to set aside land for long-term water dispersement and wildlife management programs. “All of these decisions are intended to enable additional investment in the citrus business and redeployment of capital elsewhere,” said the company. Florida is the No. 1 citrus state in the nation but production has been challenged by spread of the citrus greening disease.
Alico, originally called Atlantic Land Improvement Co., was spun off into a separate company in 1960 and kept the abbreviation, Alico, for its name. Drovers said Alico had interests in sugar cane, forestry and sod production along with cattle and citrus. In 2016, Alico was the 14th largest cow-calf ranch in the country, said Drovers, citing data from Cattlefax.