Southern Gardens Citrus Executive Named to Florida Citrus Commission

Jan. 12, 2015 - PRLog -- U.S. Sugar Corporation and Southern Gardens Citrus announced that Governor Rick Scott recently appointed Dan Casper, vice president of procurement, sales and marketing for Southern Gardens Citrus, to the Florida Citrus Commission.

The Florida Citrus Commission is the governing board of the Florida Department of Citrus, an executive agency of the Florida government charged with the marketing, research and regulation of the Florida citrus industry.

Casper was appointed to represent District 3, which includes Hendry, Lee and Palm Beach counties as well as most of southern Florida and the Gulf Coast.

“Dan Casper has nearly 30 years of experience in the citrus industry and will provide a fresh and innovative perspective to the Florida Citrus Commission,” said Judy Sanchez, senior director, corporate communications and public affairs.

A resident of Fort Myers, Florida, Casper currently serves as Chairman of the Florida Citrus Processors Association and serves on the board of Florida’s Natural Growers Cooperative and the Juice Products Association.  He joined Southern Gardens in 2007, having previously worked for The Coca Cola Company as Global Procurement Manager and Vice President of Global Citrus and Juice Supply.

Southern Gardens Citrus is one of the nation’s largest citrus growers and processors.   The company owns and/or manages 14,500 net acres of groves containing 1.5 million trees, which provide high quality fruit to the Southern Gardens Citrus Processing Plant.  The juice plant can process up to 20 million boxes of oranges a season, producing over 100 million gallons of orange juice. The plant has set many world records in extractor productivity since its opening in 1994. Southern Gardens is one of the largest bulk suppliers of premium, not-from-concentrate (NFC) orange juice to branded companies as well as the private label grocery trade in the United States.  Southern Gardens is a grower member of Florida’s Natural Growers Cooperative.

The Florida Citrus Commission is a nine-member board appointed by the governor to represent citrus growers, processors and packers. FDOC activities are funded by a tax paid by growers on each box of citrus that moves through commercial channels. The industry employs nearly 76,000 people and provides an annual economic impact close to $9 billion to the state. For more information about the Florida Department of Citrus, please visit FloridaCitrus.org.