Florida’s Natural Announces Grower Returns and Officers

Josh McGill Industry News Release, Orange Juice

Florida’s Natural Growers’ round orange pool for last season paid an average of $3.50 per pound solid, Chief Financial Officer Matthew Woodall announced at the cooperative’s recent annual stockholders’ meeting. Early and midseason oranges paid a combined $3.42 per pound solid, and Valencia oranges paid a combined $3.55 per pound solid. Tangerines paid an average of $2.60 per pound solid, and grapefruit returned an average of $3.25 per pound solid.

Florida’s Natural

Florida’s Natural Growers’ stockholders elected the board of directors for the upcoming year. The board elected the following officers:

  • Frank M. Hunt III, president and chairman
  • W. Lindsay Raley, vice chairman and first vice president
  • Robert M. Behr, chief executive officer
  • Matthew Woodall, chief financial officer, treasurer and secretary
  • Christopher W. Groom, chief operating officer
  • L. Davis Crumbly, vice president of agricultural services
  • Christina A. Gasperino, vice president of human resources
  • Sean Frielich, vice president of technical services
  • H. Scott Hart, vice president of marketing
  • William Holland, vice president of sales
  • M. Scott Smith, vice president of operations

Groom will succeed Behr as chief executive officer on Jan. 1, 2023.

First formed in 1933, Florida’s Natural Growers, Inc. is a cooperative of 14 grower organizations representing several hundred individual growers who own more than 50,000 acres of citrus in Florida. Its flagship juice brand, Florida’s Natural, is sold throughout the United States and in more than 40 other countries. The cooperative is headquartered in Lake Wales and operates plants in Lake Wales and Umatilla.

Cooperative members are Ben Hill Griffin Inc., Citrus Marketing Services, Dundee Citrus Growers Association (CGA), Haines City CGA, Hunt Bros. Cooperative, Lake Placid Citrus Cooperative, Lake Wales CGA, Lykes Bros. Inc., Orange Growers Marketing Association, Peace River Packing Company, Southern Gardens Grove Corporation, Umatilla CGA, Waverly Growers Cooperative and Winter Haven CGA.

Source: Florida’s Natural Growers

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