Welcome to Alico's Third Quarter 2024 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder today's conference is being recorded. Last night, the company issued a press release announcing its results for the third quarter ended June 30, 2024. If you have not had a chance to review the release, it is available on the Investor Relations of the company's website at www.alicoinc.com. This call is being webcast, and a replay will be available on Alico's website as well. Before we begin, we would like to remind everyone that prepared remarks today contain forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such difference, such differences include risk details in company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q, annual results on Form 10-K, current reports on Form 8-K and those amendments thereto filed with the SEC and those mentioned in the earnings release. The company undertakes no obligation to subsequently update or revise the forward-looking statements made on today's call, except as required by law. During the call, the company may also discuss non-GAAP financial measures, including EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA and net debt. For more details on the measures, please refer to the company's press release issued yesterday. With that, I would like to turn the call over to the company's President and CEO, Mr. John Kiernan.

Thank you, Britney, and thank you, everyone, for joining us for Alico's Third Quarter 2024 earnings call this morning. I wanted to thank our investors who checked in with us over the weekend as Hurricane Debby approached the Florida coast line. Alico and my fellow employees had a wet weekend, and we expect rain to continue each day for the rest of the week, but we did not sustain any damage from Debby. Our thoughts are with all of our fellow Floridians who were impacted by the storm yesterday and everyone else who's facing tropical storm today. Alico has been through dozens of storms over the past century, and we take everyone seriously. Thank you again for your concern. During the past quarter, Alico finished harvesting the last fruit in our 2023-'24 season. Fruit quality was poor at the beginning of both our early mid and Valencia crop harvest but improved. However, the rate of fruit drop accelerated during post harvests. Lower levels of production for the early and mid-season and Valencia harvest this season resulted in lower levels of pound solids being sold, which has led to a total inventory write-down of $28.5 million in fiscal year 2024. We believe that the Early and mid-season and Valencia box production was affected by the continued impact of Hurricane Ian. We've managed our cost aggressively over the past year, but the lower revenue base was out of our control for the second year in a row. We have several reasons to be more optimistic about our production next season. First, since 2017, Alico has planted 2.2 million trees and nearly all of them are now producing fruit. Second, Alico began treating its citrus trees in January 2023 with an oxytetracycline product via trunk injection as a citrus greening therapy. In 2023,…

Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. As our business is seasonal, the majority of our citrus crop is typically harvested in the second and third quarters of the fiscal year, and the majority of our profits and cash flows are also recognized in the second and third quarters. However, due to the timing of the current year harvest, more of the citrus crop was harvested in the first and second quarters of this fiscal year. As such, the quarterly results for the third quarter are not indicative of our full year results. For the 3 and 9 months ended June 30, 2024, Alico citrus harvested approximately 0.8 million and 3.1 million boxes of fruit, respectively, compared to 0.4 million and 2.7 million boxes of fruit in the same periods of the prior fiscal year. The increases in boxes harvested was primarily driven by the timing of the harvest for the 3 months ended June 30, 2024, and as a result of our production beginning to recover to pre-hurricane levels for the 9 months ended June 30, 2024. The early and mid-season and Valencia harvests are complete. And for the 9 months ended June 30, 2024, pound solids produced were up 17% and 7.6% compared to the prior year, respectively, while pound solids per box were down 4% and 3.1%, respectively. Additionally, we realized an increase in the price per pound solids of 3.8% and 4.1%, respectively, in the 9 months ended June 30, 2024, compared to the same period in the prior fiscal year as a result of more favorable pricing in one of our contracts with Tropicana. Our average realized/blended price per pound solids for the 9 months ended June 30, 2024, increased 3.9% as compared to the same period in the prior year. As a result of…

Thanks, Brad. Although the harvesting season was disappointing, which we believe is a result of the continuing recovery from Hurricane Ian, Alico has a strong balance sheet and is continuing to make investments in its groves, which we believe will help us grow next season as we will be another year removed from the hurricane. Alico has over 125 years of experience as a leader in Florida agriculture and land management. Since 2017, we have planted over 2.2 million new trees. We remain committed to the Florida citrus industry for the long term. In addition, Alico is continuing to evaluate all of our properties to determine their highest and best use to create long-term value for our shareholders. We strive to provide our investors with the benefits and stability of a conventional agricultural investment with the enhanced optionality that comes through active land management. And with that, we will now open the line up to questions from industry analysts. Britney?

I just want to say thank you to everyone for joining our call today and for your continued support of Alico. We look forward to speaking with you about our year-end results in November. Operator?

This does conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and thank you for your participation. Have a great day.