Fall Creek Farm & Nursery Inc., an international blueberry breeding and nursery company, announced the promotions of two long-tenured employees to its executive leadership team, further strengthening the company’s breeding, variety development and production quality assurance functions. Paul Sandefur has been promoted to director of breeding and Jon Umble has been promoted to director of growing.

Sandefur is now responsible for oversight of Fall Creek’s blueberry breeding, trialing and variety development programs around the world, as well as the company’s U.S. tissue culture research lab

Paige Stewart has joined Green Thumb Farms. Stewart brings eight years of produce and sales experience to the table as the company's newest business development manager.

Stewart launched her career as a buyer for FreshPoint Inc., where she developed an intimate knowledge of the produce landscape, its populace, and the mechanics of the market.

Stewart leveraged this knowledge to grow into a regional sales role with Village Farms International Inc., rounding out her sales acumen. In this capacity she extended her roots to reach new relationships while reinforcing a robust existing network.

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Fresh Farms continues its growth pattern with the recent addition of John Senn as sales associate. Senn will be working in the Kingsburg, CA, offices. He will represent the company’s grape, vegetable and melon categories, which Fresh Farms is now offering year-round.

Senn graduated from Cal Poly with an agribusiness degree and has been working in the produce industry for the past 28 years. He started as an inspector for Supervalu right out of college and subsequently transitioned into sales for Sun West the past 24 years.

“I’m very excited and grateful to have the opportunity to work for

International Fresh Produce Association Vice President of Nutrition & Health Mollie Van Lieu has been announced as the emcee for the Food as Medicine Summit in Chicago May 25-26. 

The event, which will be held both in person and online, will facilitate commercial, scientific and collaboration conversations for food and beverage and healthcare. Speakers include experts from some of the largest food brands, IFPA members Ocean Spray Cranberries, Kroger and Walmart as well as the American Heath Association, Feeding America, Spectrum Health, Sunbasket, Conagra and Tufts University.  

“The concept

North Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler named Peter Thornton as the new director of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Marketing Division. Thornton replaces Joe Sanderson, who retired in March after 34 years with the department.

“Peter has successfully led our International Section and efforts to market North Carolina agricultural commodities around the world. In his new role, I expect he will bring the same level of experience and enthusiasm to our overall marketing efforts including domestic and retail establishments and restaurants,” said

Mission Produce Inc. has named Timothy Bulow as president and chief operating officer, effective no later than Aug. 1. Mission Founder Steve Barnard will continue to serve in his role as CEO and a member of the board of directors.

Bulow joins Mission with more than 30 years of experience leading global operations, business development and marketing for consumer-facing businesses across diverse geographies and industries. He has deep experience with multi-national consumer goods corporations, including General Mills Inc., where he served in multiple general management and marketing leadership