The Vidalia Onion Committee announced today that its long-time manager, Bob Stafford, has officially retired. His last day as the executive director of the VOC was Jan. 1, 2023, after working with the VOC and the Vidalia Onion Business Council for 29 years. The VOC will now be looking to fill his position with a new executive director. 

In 1994, Stafford was brought onto the Vidalia Onion Committee as a compliance officer to assist the development of a compliance plan. He then went on to work side-by-side with VOC members for audits, along with product labeling and other rules and regulations

 Litehouse Inc., a 100 percent employee-owned company and leader in refrigerated salad dressings, dips, sauces, cheese and other innovative consumer packaged goods, announced the appointment of Andy Juarez as vice president of operations and Ryan Whitchurch as director of consumer marketing. 
 
“With their impressive backgrounds and expertise, Andy and Ryan will play integral roles in driving the growth and awareness of our diverse portfolio of brands and Away from Home division,” said Kelly Prior, president and CEO of Litehouse Inc. “Andy's extensive experience in operations and engineering

Church Bros. Farms added two new members to its sales and marketing department: Loree Dowse as director of marketing and Paul Ensley as retail data analyst.

Dowse brings more than 15 years of integrated marketing and communications experience to the company, most recently as director of marketing and communications for Concentric Power, a clean energy developer for ag. Prior to that, she served as director of creative marketing for Mann Packing, the fresh vegetable division of Del Monte Fresh Produce North America. Dowse has an English degree from UCLA as well as a degree in culinary arts and

In honor of International Women’s Day, the California Avocado Commission, which represents growers farming on about 50,000 acres in the state, is sharing profiles of some female avocado farmers to showcase the role of women in the industry. As with all farming, women have long been active in growing California avocados. Many California avocado growers come from multi-generational farming families, and with generational transitions happening, increasingly women are taking on avocado grove management and ag industry leadership roles.

“The commission is happy to celebrate International Women’s

Apeel Sciences announced the promotion of Ryan Fink to senior vice president of the Americas and the appointment of Marius du Plessis as chief commercial officer in EMEA to lead priority business initiatives in their respective markets. Du Plessis and Fink will leverage their extensive produce supply chain experience to strengthen Apeel’s core commercial business, improving supply network value and expanding market growth in Europe and The Americas. 

Fink has been with Apeel for over two years, beginning as senior director major accounts and then as vice president, before this most recent

Pacific Trellis Fruit, owner of the Dulcinea brand, has promoted two of its team members to leadership roles. Rob Markel has been promoted to the newly created position of vice president of sales-melon division, and Dan Carapella, Jr. to vice president of sales-fruit division.  These promotions reflect the organization’s strategy of delivering partner value, volume growth and reputation as a market leader.

“Rob and Dan are both proven sales leaders who have shown time and again the ability to bring creative offers and solutions to our customer base, maximizing returns to the growers, and