In September, Southern Gardens Citrus Processing received an award for breaking a world record in juice extraction.  The record was more than 500,000 boxes of fruit per extraction machine during the processing season.  Executives Don Sabato and Dough Moody from Food Machinery Corporation (FMC) presented a banner and plaque to the citrus management team.

According to Bob Buker, "This award recognizes the hard work and dedication of every member of the citrus processing team, who are always striving to be the best."

The entire staff of the citrus processing plant was treated to lunch by FMC.  Gator Hammock Catering provided the food.  Mmmm, mmm, good.

And, in a move that is a wake up call for the Department of Citrus, Southern Gardens joined a group of citrus growers who filed a lawsuit against the Department's citrus box tax that funds citrus advertising.  That industry tax totals more than $70 million a year.  Buker says that the advertising tax paid by the groves has amounted to more than Southern Gardens' grove profit in three of the last five years.  The growers feel that the tax is an unconstitutional denial of freedom of speech because growers are forced to pay a per box tax to fund advertising that does not help their business.  Recently, the Supreme Court struck down similar advertising taxes that had been imposed on the pork, been and mushroom industries.