Produce

Dewight Hall, President and CEO of Columbia Fresh Produce announced that Rick Bella, former Produce Program Director of Chicago based Feeding America, will join his team to assist in the business development and marketing of their hunger relief fresh produce division. Bella, from Chicago, will assist the sales team in developing fresh produce programs with hunger relief organizations across the country. “We are excited to have Rick join our team,” said Dewight Hall. “His extensive experience in fresh produce and hunger relief will be a great complement to our current efforts.”  …

Ready Pac Foods, Inc. proudly announces the hiring of their new Chief Information Officer, Bob Estes. As the company’s CIO, Bob will lead all information systems and technology where his focus will be on transforming information accessibility and system integration. The CIO position is a critical contributor in achieving Ready Pac’s overall company goals through the advancement of their business systems and information flow.   He will report directly to Tony Sarsam, CEO. …

At the National Potato Council’s (NPC) 2014 Annual Meeting, held January 10-11, 2014, in San Antonio, Texas, Randy Hardy from Hardy Farms in Oakley, Idaho, was elected to serve as NPC’s president for 2014 and to lead the council’s Executive Committee. …

The United States Potato Board (USPB) Members approved the restructuring of the domestic and international marketing departments to form one USPB marketing department. This decision was ratified by the USPB Administrative Committee during  January 10, 2014 meeting in San Antonio, TX. This new structure will be effective July 1, 2014, the start of the new marketing year. The new USPB marketing department will implement USPB programs in all target markets. There will be no changes to the USPB’s Long Range Plan (LRP) associated with this restructuring, leaving current programs in place for the coming marketing year. …

Chile’s main ports continued paralyzed as negotiations between striking workers and authorities are at an impasse and ugly skirmishes with police play out amid millions of cases of perishable export produce which are likely to spoil. …