Good day and welcome to Alico's Strategic Transformation Conference call. Currently, all participants are in a listen-only mode. As a reminder, today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to your host, John Mills, Managing Partner at ICR.
Thank you, Todd. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. On the call today, representing Alico, is John Kiernan, President and Chief Executive Officer. This morning, the company issued a press release announcing its strategic transformation of its agriculture operations to unlock value in its land holdings. If you've not had a chance to view the release, it is available on the investor relations portion of the company's website at alicoinc.com. In addition, we will have a presentation accompanying today's call, and you can also view that on the investor relations portion of the company's website. 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 the prepared remarks contain forward-looking statements.
Such statements are subject to risk, 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 differences include risks detailed in the company's quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, annual reports on Form 10-K, current reports on Form 8-K, and any 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, and with that, I would like to turn the call over to the company's President and CEO, Mr. John Kiernan.
Thank you, John, and thank you, everyone, for joining us this morning. This morning, Alico announced its strategic transformation to become a diversified land company, with each of its properties now expected to create profitable agricultural revenue opportunities that are not citrus-related until the highest and best use for these acres can be realized. Alico Citrus, which holds the company's citrus production operations, has faced increasing financial challenges from citrus greening disease and environmental factors for many seasons. The company has decided not to spend further capital on its citrus operations after the current crop is harvested in 2025. We will focus our resources on creating new opportunities for profitable growth while also acting prudently on behalf of shareholders.
For over a century, Alico has been proud to be one of Florida's leading citrus producers and a dedicated steward of its agricultural land, but we must now reluctantly adapt to changing environmental and economic realities. Alico owns approximately 53,371 acres of land across eight counties in Florida, as well as approximately 48,700 acres of oil, gas, and mineral rights in the state. Alico has invested for profitable growth over the past 12 years. Alico has approximately 48,000 citrus acres in operation, with approximately 3,200 acres acquired since 2019. We planted approximately 5.5 million citrus trees, with approximately 2.5 million planted since 2018. Approximately 4.5 million of those trees were treated with an oxytetracycline trunk injection to combat greening in 2024.
As a result of citrus greening and multiple hurricanes, our citrus production has declined approximately 73% over the last 10 years, despite significant investments in land, trees, and citrus disease treatments, and the current harvest will likely be lower in volume than the previous season. We've explored all available options to restore our citrus operations to profitability, but the long-term production trend and the cost needed to combat citrus greening disease no longer supports our expectations for recovery. The impact of Hurricanes Irma in 2017, Ian in 2022, and Milton in 2024 on our trees, already weakened from years of citrus greening disease, has led Alico to conclude that growing citrus is no longer economically viable for us in Florida. Alico plans to wind down Alico Citrus's primary operations, which will include reducing most of its citrus production workforce effective immediately.
We recognize the personal impact this decision has on our valued employees and the company is supporting them through this transition. Alico thanks our entire Alico Citrus team for their unwavering dedication, hard work, and perseverance. One of the company's supply agreements with Tropicana expires at the end of the current harvest season. The other contract with Tropicana contains a provision that Alico has the right to remove certain acreage from the contract if, in its best judgment, such acreage is no longer economically viable. Approximately 3,460 acres that still appear economically viable will be managed by third-party caretakers for another season and remain under this Tropicana contract through 2026.
This difficult decision is expected to provide Alico with a more stable future while maintaining our deep roots in agriculture by meaningfully reducing our working capital requirements for annual citrus production, reducing financial volatility, and allowing the company to focus on profitable non-citrus agricultural opportunities and entitlement work to achieve the highest and best use for all properties in our real estate portfolio. Alico expects to maintain its commitment to the Florida agricultural industry through diversified farming operations on nearly all of its land holdings following this citrus production transition. Alico also expects to entitle certain parcels of its land for commercial and residential development. The company believes these strategic decisions improve its ability to provide investors with a greater return on capital that includes the benefits and stability of a conventional agricultural investment, with the optionality that comes with active land management.
This strategic transformation beyond citrus production will allow Alico to maintain our agricultural heritage while creating new opportunities for profitable growth, while also acting prudently on behalf of shareholders. Through these operational changes, Alico will remain a responsible corporate citizen and a steward of both our land, as we have done for more than 125 years, and communities in eight Florida counties. For decades, while maintaining its agricultural leadership, Alico has opportunistically sold land in Florida for responsible purposes that benefit both the local communities and our shareholders, such as the approximately 40,000 acres of the Alico Ranch that were sold to the state of Florida since 2017, and 760 acres of land donated in 1992 to establish Florida Gulf Coast University.
As Alico becomes a diversified land company, each of its properties is expected to create agricultural revenue opportunities that are not citrus-related until the highest and best use for these acres can be realized. Despite our collective efforts, Alico believes that this strategic decision is not only correct but essential. We remain committed to creating opportunities that will maintain our legacy of stewardship while also acting prudently on behalf of our shareholders, including working with local municipalities to develop plans that will benefit their Florida communities. Under this new strategy, Alico expects to recognize positive cash flow for the remainder of the current fiscal year once land sales that have already been negotiated close, severance and restructuring costs are realized, and harvesting activities conclude.
The company anticipates that cash reserves at the end of the 2025 fiscal year will be sufficient to meet future operating expenses for at least two additional years without any additional land sales being required before fiscal year 2028. Management believes that there is potential to realize near-term commercial or residential development value for approximately 10% of its acres in the next five years and another 14% of its acres in the long term, while approximately 75% of its acres are expected to remain tied to agriculture. Based upon work performed by local real estate experts and appraisers, Alico Management believes that in the near term, approximately 5,500 acres could be monetized for as much as $335 million-$380 million discounted for present value.
In the long term, approximately 7,100 acres could be monetized for as much as $140 million-$170 million discounted for present value, and its remaining acres could be monetized as agricultural land for as much as $175 million-$200 million discounted for present value. To summarize these statements, Alico Management estimates that the value of our current land holdings could be worth approximately $650 million-$750 million, even with 75% of these acres valued for agricultural usage and assuming approximately 10% of the acres entitled for development within the next five years. The company will remain open to opportunistic land sales for its properties guided by the real estate analysis that's been recently carried out.
The company believes its $95 million revolving line of credit with MetLife, which had an approximate balance of $8.4 million on September 30th, 2024, and is not due until 2034, provides additional confidence for investors about Alico's liquidity. The company remains committed to returning or reinvesting capital as it has done over the past decade. We also expect that the regular quarterly cash dividend is likely to continue to be declared, especially since it's been paid almost every year since 1974. This strategic transformation is expected to provide Alico with a more stable future while maintaining our deep roots in agriculture by meaningfully reducing our working capital requirements for annual citrus production, reducing financial volatility, and allowing the company to focus on profitable non-citrus agricultural opportunities and entitlement work to achieve the highest and best use for all properties in our real estate portfolio.
Thank you to everyone for joining our call and webcast today and for your continued support of Alico. We look forward to speaking with you about our first quarter results in February.
This does conclude today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at any time.