Item 1A. Risk Factors

Our business and results of operations are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control.  The following is a description of the known factors that we believe may materially affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.  They should be considered carefully, in addition to the information set forth elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, including the related Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in making any investment decisions with respect to our securities.  Additional risks or uncertainties that are not currently known to us that we currently deem to be immaterial or that could apply to any company could also materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Risks Related to our Business

Adverse weather conditions, natural disasters and other natural conditions, including the effects of climate change, could impose significant costs and losses on our business.

Fresh produce is vulnerable to adverse weather conditions, including windstorms, floods, drought and temperature extremes, which are quite common and may occur with higher frequency or be less predictable in the future due to the effects of climate change. Unfavorable growing conditions can reduce both crop size and crop quality. In extreme cases, entire harvests may be lost in some geographic areas. Citrus groves are subject to damage from frost and freezes, and this has happened periodically in the recent past. In some cases, the fruit is damaged or ruined; in the case of extended periods of cold, the trees can also be damaged or killed. These factors can increase costs, decrease revenues and lead to additional charges to earnings, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Our citrus groves are subject to damage and loss from disease including but not limited to citrus greening and citrus canker which could negatively impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our citrus groves are subject to damage and loss from diseases such as citrus greening and citrus canker. Each of these diseases is widespread in Florida and exists in our citrus groves and in the areas where our citrus groves are located. The success of our citrus business is directly related to the viability and health of our citrus groves.

Citrus greening is one of the most serious citrus plant diseases in the world. Once a tree is infected, its productivity generally decreases. While the disease poses no threat to humans or animals, it has devastated citrus crops throughout the United States and abroad. Named for its green, misshapen fruit, citrus greening disease has now killed millions of citrus plants in the southeastern United States and has spread across the entire country. Infected trees produce fruits that are green, misshapen and bitter, unsuitable for sale as fresh fruit or for juice. Infected trees can die within a few years. At the present time, there is no known cure for citrus greening once trees have become infected. Primarily, as a result of citrus greening, orange production in the State of Florida has continued to drop. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Florida had its smallest orange harvest in 53 years in the 2016-2017 harvest season. The upcoming 2017-2018 Florida harvest season is expected to decline even further. The USDA's forecast of approximately 50,000,000 boxes of oranges for the 2017-2018 season is down more than 27.2% from the approximately 68,700,000 boxes harvested last season and 66.7% from the approximately 150,000,000 boxes during the 2004-05 season when citrus greening was discovered.

Citrus canker is a disease affecting citrus species and is caused by a bacterium which is spread by contact with infected trees or by windblown transmission. There is no known cure for citrus canker at present although some management practices, including the use of copper-based bactericides, can mitigate its spread and lessen its effect on infected trees; however, there is no assurance that currently available technologies will control such disease effectively.

    

Both of these diseases pose a significant threat to the Florida citrus industry and to our citrus groves. While we use best management practices to attempt to control diseases and their spread, there can be no assurance that our mitigation efforts will be successful. These diseases can significantly increase our costs which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Our citrus groves produce the significant majority of our annual operating revenues. A significant reduction in available citrus from our citrus groves could decrease our operating revenues and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our citrus groves are geographically concentrated in Florida and the effects of adverse weather conditions including hurricanes and tropical storms could adversely affect our results of operations, financial position and cash flows.

Our citrus operations are concentrated in central and south Florida with our groves located in parcels in Alachua, DeSoto, Polk, Collier, Hendry, Charlotte, Highlands, Osceola, Martin and Hardee Counties. Because our groves are located in close proximity to each other, the impact of adverse weather conditions may be material to our results of operations, financial position and cash flows. Florida is particularly susceptible to the occurrence of hurricanes and tropical storms. Depending on where any particular hurricane or tropical storm makes landfall, our properties could experience significant, if not catastrophic damage. Hurricanes and tropical storms have the potential to destroy crops, affect cattle breeding and impact citrus production through the loss of fruit and destruction of trees and/or plants either as a result of high winds or through the spread of windblown disease. Such damage could materially affect our citrus and cattle operations and could result in a loss of operating revenues from those products for a multi-year period. We seek to minimize hurricane risk by the purchase of insurance contracts, but the majority of our crops remain uninsured. In addition to hurricanes and tropical storms, the occurrence of other natural disasters and climate conditions in Florida, such as tornadoes, floods, freezes, unusually heavy or prolonged rain, droughts and heat waves, could have a material adverse effect on our operations and our ability to realize income from our crops or cattle.

During September 2017, we experienced significant fruit loss as a result of Hurricane Irma, which will negatively impact both the Company's revenues and earnings for fiscal 2018 and potentially fiscal 2019.

A significant portion of our revenues are derived from our citrus business and any adverse event affecting such business could disproportionately harm our business.

Our revenues from our citrus business were approximately 95.1% , 95.2% , and 95.5% of our operating revenues in fiscal years 2017 , 2016 and 2015 , respectively. Our citrus division is one of the largest citrus producers in the United States and because of the significance of the revenues derived from this business, we are more vulnerable to adverse events or market conditions affecting our citrus business which could have a significant impact on our overall results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

We depend on our relationship with Tropicana for a significant portion of our business. Any disruption in this relationship could harm our sales. Additionally, if certain criteria are not met under one of our contracts with Tropicana, we could experience a significant reduction in revenues.

The Company's contracts with Tropicana accounted for 85.6% , 32.5% and 14.3% of the Company's revenues in fiscal 2017 , 2016 and 2015 , respectively. The revenue for Tropicana is generated among several contracts. Under one such contract, if certain criteria are not met, the pricing terms of the contract may be modified whereby we could experience a reduction in revenues. Should there be any change in our current relationship structure, whereby they do not buy our oranges, we would need to find replacement buyers to purchase our remaining crop, which could take time and expense and may result in less favorable terms of sale. The loss of Tropicana as a customer or significant reduction in business with Tropicana may cause a material adverse impact to our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Our agricultural products are subject to supply and demand pricing which is not predictable.

Agricultural operations traditionally provide almost all of our operating revenues with citrus being the largest portion and are subject to supply and demand pricing. While according to Nielsen data consumer demand for orange juice has decreased significantly to its lowest level in almost a decade, we have been able to offset the impact of such decline with higher prices based on a lower supply of available oranges. However, there can be no assurance that we will be able to continue to do so if demand continues to decline. Although our processed citrus is subject to minimum pricing, we are unable to predict with certainty the final price we will receive for our products. In some instances the harvest and growth cycle will dictate when such products must be marketed which may or may not be advantageous in obtaining the best price. Excessive supplies tend to cause severe price competition and lower prices for the commodity affected. Limited supply of certain agricultural commodities due to world and domestic market conditions can cause commodity prices to rise in certain situations. We attempt to mitigate these risks by using contracts with citrus processors that include pricing structures based on a minimum (“floor”) price and with a price increase (“rise”) if market prices exceed the floor price.

There is no assurance that Alico 2.0 will provide the cost savings that we expect, or that we will fully realize the benefits we expect from the program.

On November 16, 2017, we announced Alico 2.0, which we expect will result in a significant citrus grove cost savings and a decline in Alico Citrus’ general and administrative expenses. There is no assurance that our Alico 2.0 will provide the cost savings that we expect, or that we will fully realize the benefits we expect from the program.

If we are unable to successfully develop and execute our strategic growth initiatives, or if they do not adequately address the challenges or opportunities we face, our business, financial condition and prospects may be adversely affected.

Our success is dependent, in part, on our ability to identify, develop and execute appropriate strategic growth initiatives that will enable us to achieve sustainable growth in the long term. The implementation of our strategic initiatives is subject to both the risks affecting our business generally and the inherent risks associated with implementing new strategies. These strategic initiatives may not be successful in generating revenues or improving operating profit and, if they are, it may take longer than anticipated. As a result and depending on evolving conditions and opportunities, we may need to adjust our strategic initiatives and such changes could be substantial, including modifying or terminating one or more of such initiatives. Termination of such initiatives may require us to write down or write off the value of our investments in them. Transition and changes in our strategic initiatives may also create uncertainty in our employees, customers and partners that could adversely affect our business and revenues. In addition, we may incur higher than expected or unanticipated costs in implementing our strategic initiatives, attempting to attract revenue opportunities or changing our strategies. There is no assurance that the implementation of any strategic growth initiative will be successful, and we may not realize anticipated benefits at levels we project or at all, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition and prospects.

We are subject to the risk of product contamination and product liability claims.

The sale of agricultural products for human consumption involves the risk of injury to consumers. Such injuries may result from tampering by unauthorized third parties, product contamination or spoilage, including the presence of foreign objects, substances, chemicals, other agents, or residues introduced during the growing, storage, handling or transportation phases. While we are subject to governmental inspection and regulations and believe our facilities comply in all material respects with all applicable laws and regulations, we cannot be sure that our agricultural products will not cause a health-related illness in the future or that we will not be subject to claims or lawsuits relating to such matters. Even if a product liability claim is unsuccessful or is not fully pursued, the negative publicity surrounding any assertion that our products caused illness or injury could adversely affect our reputation with existing and potential customers and our corporate and brand image. Moreover, claims or liabilities of this sort might not be covered by our insurance or by any rights of indemnity or contribution that we may have against others. We maintain product liability insurance, however, we cannot be sure that we will not incur claims or liabilities for which we are not insured or that exceed the amount of our insurance coverage.

Our agricultural operations are subject to water use regulations restricting our access to water.

    

Our operations are dependent upon the availability of adequate surface and underground water. The availability of water is regulated by the state of Florida through water management districts which have jurisdiction over various geographic regions in which our lands are located. Currently, we have permits in place for the next 15 to 20 years for the use of underground and surface water which are adequate for our agricultural needs.

Surface water in Hendry County, where much of our agricultural land is located, comes from Lake Okeechobee via the Caloosahatchee River and a system of canals used to irrigate such land. The Army Corps of Engineers controls the level of Lake Okeechobee and ultimately determines the availability of surface water even though the use of water has been permitted by the state of Florida through the water management district. The Army Corps of Engineers decided in 2010 to lower the permissible level of Lake Okeechobee in response to concerns about the ability of the levee surrounding the lake to restrain rising waters which could result from hurricanes. Changes in availability of surface water use may result during times of drought, because of lower lake levels and could materially adversely affect our agricultural operations, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Changes in immigration laws could impact our ability to harvest our crops.

We engage third parties to provide personnel for our harvesting operations. The availability and number of such workers is subject to decrease if there are changes in the U.S. immigration laws. Immigration reform and enforcement is currently attracting significant attention in the current U.S. administration and U.S. Congress. If new immigration legislation is enacted in the U.S such legislation may contain provisions that could significantly reduce the number and availability of workers. The scarcity of available personnel to harvest our agricultural products could cause harvesting costs to increase or could lead to the loss of product that is not timely harvested which could have a material adverse effect to our citrus grove business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our acquisition of additional agricultural assets and other businesses could pose risks.

We seek to opportunistically acquire new agricultural assets from time to time that we believe would complement our business. For example, in fiscal year 2015 we acquired three Florida citrus properties, including Orange-Co and Silver Nip Citrus, which resulted in our citrus division being one of the largest citrus producers in the United States. While we expect that our acquisitions will successfully complement our business, we may fail to realize all of the anticipated benefits of these acquisitions, which could reduce our anticipated results. We cannot assure that we will be able to successfully identify suitable acquisition opportunities, negotiate appropriate acquisition terms, or obtain any financing that may be needed to consummate such acquisitions or complete proposed acquisitions. Acquisitions by us could result in accounting changes, potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, increased debt and contingent liabilities, reduce the amount of cash available for dividends, debt service payments, integration issues and diversion of management’s attention, any of which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows. We may be unable to successfully realize the financial, operational, and other benefits we anticipate from our acquisitions and our failure to do so could adversely affect our business, results of operation and financial condition, and cash flows.

Dispositions of our assets may adversely affect our future results of operations.

We also routinely evaluate the benefits of disposing of certain of our assets which could include the exit from lines of business. For example, in November of 2014 we sold significant sugarcane assets and we are no longer involved in the sugarcane business. While such dispositions increase the amount of cash available to us, it could also result in a potential loss of significant operating revenues and income streams that we might not be able to replace, makes our business less diversified and could ultimately have a negative impact on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

If a transaction intended to qualify as a Section 1031 Exchange is later determined to be taxable, we may face adverse consequences, and if the laws applicable to such transactions are amended or repealed, we may not be able to dispose of properties on a tax deferred basis.

From time to time we dispose of properties in transactions that are intended to qualify as Section 1031 Exchanges. It is possible that the qualification of a transaction as a Section 1031 Exchange could be successfully challenged and determined to be currently taxable and we could also be required to pay interest and penalties. As a result, we may be required to borrow funds in order to pay additional property taxes, and the payment of such taxes could cause us to have less cash available. Moreover, it is possible that legislation could be enacted that could modify or repeal the laws with respect to Section 1031 Exchanges, which could make it more difficult or not possible for us to dispose of properties on a tax deferred basis.

We may undertake one or more significant corporate transactions that may not achieve their intended results, may adversely affect our financial condition and our results of operations or result in unforeseeable risks to our business.

We continuously evaluate the acquisition or disposition of operating businesses and assets and may in the future undertake one or more significant transactions. Any such acquisitive transaction could be material to our business and could take any number of forms, including mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and the purchase of equity interests. The consideration for such acquisitive transactions may include, among other things, cash, common stock or equity interests in the Company or our subsidiaries, or a contribution of property or equipment to obtain equity interests, and in conjunction with a transaction we might incur additional indebtedness. We also routinely evaluate the benefits of disposing of certain assets. Such dispositions could take the form of asset sales, mergers or sales of equity interests.

These transactions may present significant risks such as insufficient assets to offset liabilities assumed, potential loss of significant operating revenues and income streams, increased or unexpected expenses, inadequate return of capital, regulatory or compliance issues, the triggering of certain financial covenants in our debt instruments (including accelerated repayment) and unidentified issues not discovered in due diligence. In addition, such transactions could distract management from current operations. As a result of the risks inherent in such transactions, we cannot guarantee that any such transaction will ultimately result in the realization of its anticipated benefits or that it will not have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. If we were to complete such an acquisition, disposition, investment or other strategic transaction, we may require additional debt or equity financing that could result in a significant increase in our amount of debt and our debt service obligations or the number of outstanding shares of our common stock, thereby diluting holders of our common stock outstanding prior to such acquisition.

Our citrus business is seasonal.

Our citrus groves produce the majority of our annual operating revenues and the citrus business is seasonal because it is tied to the growing and picking seasons. Historically, the second and third quarters of our fiscal year generally produce the majority of our annual revenues, and our working capital requirements are typically greater in the first and fourth quarters of our fiscal year coinciding with our planting cycles. Because of the seasonality of our business, results for any quarter are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved for the full fiscal year or in future quarters. If our operating revenues in the second and third quarters are lower than expected, it would have a disproportionately large adverse impact on our annual operating results.

We face significant competition in our agricultural operations.

We face significant competition in our agricultural operations both from domestic and foreign producers and do not have any branded products. Foreign growers generally have an equal or lower cost of production, less environmental regulation and in some instances, greater resources and market flexibility than us. Because foreign growers have greater flexibility as to when they enter the U.S. market, we cannot always predict the impact these competitors will have on our business and results of operations. The competition we face from foreign suppliers of orange juice is mitigated by a governmentally imposed tariff on orange imports. A change in the government’s reduction in the orange juice tariff could adversely impact our results of operations.

Climate change, or legal, regulatory, or market measures to address climate change, may negatively affect our business and operations.

There is growing concern that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere may have an adverse impact on global temperatures, weather patterns, and the frequency and severity of extreme weather and natural disasters. In the event that such climate change has a negative effect on the productivity of our citrus groves, it could have an adverse impact on our business and results of operations. The increasing concern over climate change also may result in more regional, federal, and/or global legal and regulatory requirements to reduce or mitigate the effects of greenhouse gases. In the event that such regulation is enacted, we may experience significant increases in our costs of operations. In particular, increasing regulation of fuel emissions could substantially increase the distribution and supply chain costs associated with our products. As a result, climate change could negatively affect our business and operations.

Increases in labor, personnel and benefits costs could adversely affect our operating results.

We primarily utilize labor contractors to grow, harvest and deliver our fruit to our orange packing house or outside packing facilities. We utilize a combination of employees and labor contractors to process our oranges in our orange packing facility. Our employees and contractors are in demand by other agribusinesses and other industries. Shortages of labor could delay our harvesting or orange processing activities or could result in increases in labor costs.

We and our labor contractors are subject to government mandated wage and benefit laws and regulations. In addition, current or future federal or state healthcare legislation and regulation, including the Affordable Care Act, may increase our medical costs or the medical costs of our labor contractors that could be passed on to us.

We benefit from reduced real estate taxes due to the agricultural classification of a majority of our land.  Changes in the classification or valuation methods employed by county property appraisers could cause significant changes in our real estate tax liabilities.

In the fiscal years ended September 30, 2017 , 2016 and 2015 we paid approximately $3,106,000 , $3,196,000 , and $4,054,000 , respectively, in real estate taxes, respectively. These taxes were based upon the agricultural use (“Green Belt”) values determined by the county property appraisers in which counties we own land, of approximately $105,496,000 , $89,922,000 , and $123,617,000 for each of the fiscal years ended September 30, 2017 , 2016 and 2015 respectively, which differs significantly from the fair values determined by the county property appraisers of approximately $539,790,000 , $533,617,000 , and $652,891,000 , respectively. Changes in state law or county policy regarding the granting of agricultural classification or calculation of "Green Belt" values or average millage rates could significantly impact our results of operations, cash flows and/or financial position.

Liability for the use of pesticides, herbicides and other potentially hazardous substances could increase our costs.

    

Our agricultural business involves the use of herbicides, fertilizers and pesticides, some of which may be considered hazardous or toxic substances. We may be deemed liable and have to pay for the costs or damages associated with the improper application, accidental release or the use or misuse of such substances. Our insurance may not be adequate to cover such costs or damages, or may not continue to be available at a price or under terms that are satisfactory to us. In such cases, if we are required to pay

significant costs or damages, it could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Compliance with applicable environmental laws may substantially increase our costs of doing business which could reduce our profits.

We are subject to various laws and regulations relating to the operation of our properties, which are administered by numerous federal, state and local governmental agencies. We face a potential for environmental liability by virtue of our ownership of real estate property. If hazardous substances (including herbicides and pesticides used by us or by any persons leasing our lands) are discovered emanating from any of our lands and the release of such substances presents a threat of harm to the public health or the environment, we may be held strictly liable for the cost of remediation of these hazardous substances. In addition, environmental laws that apply to a given site can vary greatly according to the site’s location, its present and former uses, and other factors such as the presence of wetlands or endangered species on the site. Management monitors environmental legislation and requirements and makes every effort to remain in compliance with such regulations. Furthermore, we require lessees of our properties to comply with environmental regulations as a condition of leasing. We also purchase insurance for environmental liability when it is available; however, these insurance contracts may not be adequate to cover such costs or damages or may not continue to be available at prices and terms that would be satisfactory. It is possible that in some cases the cost of compliance with these environmental laws could exceed the value of a particular tract of land, make it unsuitable for use in what would otherwise be its highest and best use, and/or be significant enough that it would materially adversely affect us.

Our business may be adversely affected if we lose key employees.

We depend to a large extent on the services of certain key management personnel. These individuals have extensive experience and expertise in the business lines and segments in which they work. The loss of any of these individuals could have a material adverse effect on our businesses. We do not maintain key-man life insurance with respect to any of our employees. Our success will be dependent on our ability to continue to attract, employ and retain skilled personnel in our business lines and segments.

Inflation can have a significant adverse effect on our operations.

Inflation can have a major impact on our citrus operations. The citrus operations are most affected by escalating costs and unpredictable revenues and very high irrigation water costs. High fixed water costs related to our citrus lands will continue to adversely affect earnings. Prices received for many of our products are dependent upon prevailing market conditions and commodity prices. Therefore, it is difficult for us to accurately predict revenue, just as we cannot pass on cost increases caused by general inflation, except to the extent reflected in market conditions and commodity prices.

We incur increased costs as a result of being a publicly traded company.

As a Company with publicly traded securities, we have incurred, and will continue to incur, significant legal, accounting and other expenses. In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as well as rules promulgated by the SEC and NASDAQ, requires us to adopt corporate governance practices applicable to U.S. public companies. These rules and regulations may increase our legal and financial compliance costs, which could adversely affect the trading price of our common stock.

System security risks, data protection breaches, cyber-attacks and systems integration issues could disrupt our internal operations or services provided to customers, and any such disruption could reduce our expected revenue, increase our expenses, damage our reputation and adversely affect our stock price.

Computer programmers and hackers may be able to penetrate our network security and misappropriate or compromise our confidential information or that of third parties, create system disruptions or cause shutdowns. Computer programmers and hackers also may be able to develop and deploy viruses, worms, and other malicious software programs that attack our products or otherwise exploit any security vulnerabilities of our products. In addition, sophisticated hardware and operating system software and applications that we produce or procure from third parties may contain defects in design or manufacture, including “bugs” and other problems that could unexpectedly interfere with the operation of the system. The costs to us to eliminate or alleviate cyber or other security problems, bugs, viruses, worms, malicious software programs and security vulnerabilities could be significant, and our efforts to address these problems may not be successful and could result in interruptions, delays, cessation of service and loss of existing or potential customers that may impede our sales, packing, distribution or other critical functions.

Portions of our IT infrastructure also may experience interruptions, delays or cessations of service or produce errors in connection with systems integration or migration work that takes place from time to time. We may not be successful in implementing new systems and transitioning data, which could cause business disruptions and be more expensive, time consuming, disruptive and

resource-intensive. Such disruptions could adversely impact our ability to track sales and could interrupt other operational or financial processes, which in turn could adversely affect our financial results, stock price and reputation.

Risks Related to Our Indebtedness

We maintain a significant amount of indebtedness which could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows and may limit our operational and financing flexibility and negatively impact our business.

As of September 30, 2017 we had approximately $186,000,000 in principal amount of indebtedness outstanding under our secured credit facilities and an additional $85,000,000 is available under our revolving lines of credit. Our loan agreements, and other debt instruments we may enter into in the future, may have negative consequences to us and could limit our business because we will use a substantial portion of our cash flows from operations to pay debt service costs which will reduce the funds available to us for corporate and general expenses and it may make us more vulnerable to economic downturns and adverse developments in our business. Our loan agreements require us to comply with various restrictive covenants and some contain financial covenants that require us to comply with specified financial ratios and tests. Our failure to meet these covenants could result in default under these loan agreements and would result in a cross-default under other loan agreements. In the event of a default and our inability to obtain a waiver of the default, all amounts outstanding under loan agreements could be declared immediately due and payable. Our loan agreements also contain various covenants that limit our ability to engage in specified types of transactions. We expect that we will depend primarily upon our citrus operations to provide funds to pay our corporate and general expenses and to pay any amounts that may become due under any credit facilities and any other indebtedness we may incur and there are factors beyond our control that could negatively affect our citrus business revenue stream. Our ability to make these payments depends on our future performance, which will be affected by various financial, business, macroeconomic and other factors, many of which we cannot control.

Some of our debt is based on variable rates of interest, which could result in higher interest expenses in the event of an increase in the interest rates.

Our Credit Facility and certain of our term loans that we have currently bear interest at variable rates, which will generally change as interest rates change. We bear the risk that the rates we are charged by our lenders will increase faster than the earnings and cash flow of our business, which could reduce profitability, adversely affect our ability to service our debt, cause us to breach covenants contained in our Credit Facility and Term Loans, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Risks Related to our Common Stock

Our largest stockholder has effective control over the election of our Board of Directors and other matters.

734 Investors, LLC ("734 Investors") and its two controlling persons, Remy W. Trafelet and George Brokaw, together beneficially own approximately 59.5% of our outstanding common stock as of December 7, 2017 . Accordingly, by virtue of its ownership percentage, 734 Investors is able to elect all of our directors and officers, and has the ability to exert significant influence over our business and may make decisions with which other stockholders may disagree, including, among other things, changes in our business plan, delaying, discouraging or preventing a change of control of our Company or a potential merger, consolidation, tender offer, takeover or other business combination. Additionally, potential conflicts of interest could exist when we enter into related party transactions with 734 Investors such as the Silver Nip Citrus merger we entered into on February 28, 2015. The terms of the merger were negotiated and considered by a special committee comprised entirely of independent and disinterested members of our Board of Directors.

We are a “ Controlled Company ” under the NASDAQ Listing Rules and therefore are exempt from certain corporate governance requirements, which could reduce the influence of independent directors.

We are a “Controlled Company” under NASDAQ listing rules, because more than 50% of the voting power of our outstanding common stock is controlled by 734 Investors and its two controlling persons, Remy W. Trafelet and George Brokaw. As a consequence, we are exempt from certain NASDAQ requirements including the requirement that:

However, NASDAQ does require that our independent directors have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present. In addition, Internal Revenue Code Section 162(m) requires that a compensation committee of outside directors (within the meaning of Section 162(m)) approve stock option grants to executive officers in order for us to be able to claim deductions for the compensation expense attributable to such stock options. Notwithstanding the foregoing exemptions, we do have a majority of independent directors on our Board of Directors and we do have an Audit Committee, a Compensation Committee and a Nominating and Governance Committee composed primarily of independent directors.

Although we currently comply with certain of the NASDAQ listing rules that do not apply to controlled companies, our compliance is voluntary, and there can be no assurance that we will continue to comply with these standards in the future. If in the future our Board of Directors elects to rely on the exemptions permitted by the NASDAQ listing standards and reduce the number or proportion of independent directors on our Board and its committees, the influence of independent directors would be reduced.

Sales of substantial amounts of our outstanding common stock by our largest stockholder could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

Our largest stockholder, 734 Investors, beneficially owns approximately 59.5% of our outstanding common stock as of December 7, 2017 . Our common stock is thinly traded and our common stock prices can fluctuate significantly. As such, sales of substantial amounts of our common stock into the public market by 734 Investors or perceptions that significant sales could occur, could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

Our common stock has low trading volume.

Although our common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Market, it is thinly traded and our average daily trading volume is low compared to the number of shares of common stock we have outstanding. The low trading volume of our common stock can cause our stock price to fluctuate significantly as well as make it difficult for you to sell your common shares quickly. As a result of our stock being thinly traded and/or our low stock price, institutional investors might not be interested in owning our common stock.

We may not be able to continue to pay or maintain our cash dividends on our common stock and the failure to do so may negatively affect our share price.

We have historically paid regular quarterly dividends to the holders of our common stock. Our ability to pay cash dividends depends on, among other things, our cash flows from operations, our cash requirements, our financial condition, the degree to which we are/or become leveraged, contractual restrictions binding on us, provisions of applicable law and other factors that our Board of Directors may deem relevant. There can be no assurance that we will generate sufficient cash from continuing operations in the future, or have sufficient cash surplus or net profits to pay dividends on our common stock. Our dividend policy is based upon our directors’ current assessment of our business and the environment in which we operate and that assessment could change based on business developments (which could, for example, increase our need for capital expenditures) or new growth opportunities. Our Board of Directors may, in its discretion, decrease the level of cash dividends or entirely discontinue the payment of cash dividends. The reduction or elimination of cash dividends may negatively affect the market price of our common stock.

There can be no assurance that we will continue to repurchase shares of our common stock.

In fiscal year 2017, our Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $7,000,000 of the Company’s common stock in two separate authorizations. In March 2017, our Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $5,000,000 of the Company’s common stock beginning March 9, 2017 and continuing through March 9, 2019. In May 2017, our Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to an additional $2,000,000 of the Company’s common stock beginning May 24, 2017 and continuing through May 24, 2019. Our share repurchase program does not obligate us to repurchase any specific number of shares and may be suspended from time to time or terminated at any time prior to its expiration. There can be no assurance that we will repurchase shares in the future in any particular amounts or at all. A reduction in, or elimination of, share repurchases could have a negative effect on our share price.