Live Oak Farms has added Bonny (Choate) Iten to its sales staff. Iten will be working out of its home location in Le Grand, CA, leading Live Oak's business development effort throughout the Bell pepper category.  Her umbrella of responsibilities will cover conventional Bell pepper sales for the company, and the organic Bell pepper program Live Oak started in 2019.

"I'm excited to be once again a part of a grower, packer, shipper. Again, working with peppers, a commodity in which I am experienced and familiar. Overall, I am very pleased to become a part of the Live Oak team," said Iten.

Iten

Albert P. Keck II, president of Hadley Date Gardens Inc., will serve as the Western Growers chairman of the board of directors for a one-year term.

Keck, a third-generation Californian and farmer, is a lifelong native of the Coachella Valley. He is chairman of the California Date Administrative Committee and the California Date Commission. He was elected to the Western Growers board in 2015, and previously served as senior vice chairman.

“Our industry is grappling with issues and challenges more daunting than ever, and it seems the perfect time for a happy warrior to step into the role of

The Organic Grower Summit, presented by Western Growers and the Organic Produce Network, will honor long-time organic grower Vic Smith as the recipient of the fourth annual Organic Grower Summit’s Grower of the Year. Smith, CEO of JV Smith Cos., was selected based on his ongoing commitment and dedication to excellence in organic production, organic industry leadership, and innovation.

The Grower of the Year Award, sponsored by AGCO, will be presented to Smith as part of the Keynote presentation at the Organic Grower Summit, Dec. 1-2 in Monterey, CA. The fourth annual OGS is designed to

Gold Coast Packing Inc. hired Robb Bertels as its new vice president of sales and marketing. Bertels has been in the produce industry for more than 35 years and brings a background in business development, strategic sales and marketing to Gold Coast.

Prior to joining the Santa Maria team, Bertels was head of marketing and business development at Sakata Seed America and has held positions at Amerifresh and Mission Produce.

“One of the things that attracted me to Gold Coast is the company’s vertical integration in growing operations, processing, product development and innovation," said

During the Idaho Potato Commission’s November meeting, Mark Duncanson, the director of raw material procurement at Basic American Foods, was sworn in to represent the processor sector of the industry. Brett Jensen of Brett Jensen Farms and Bryan Wada of Wada Farms were appointed chairman and vice chairman, respectively.

“Mark’s experience in finance and in sourcing raw agricultural ingredients will be extremely valuable as the industry continues to increase domestic and international demand for Idaho’s famous potatoes,” said Jensen.

Every marketing program the IPC initiates, whether it’s

Moxxy Marketing, an award-winning, full-service marketing agency for fresh food and agriculture-based and related businesses, has expanded internal operations and its East Coast team with the addition of Cameron Dolan as business and accounting director.

"Every business owner understands the importance of having strength in operations and behind-the-scenes support," said Karen Nardozza, president and CEO of Moxxy. "Cameron hit the ground running by demonstrating know-how in accounting, HR and business operations, freeing the rest of the team to focus solely on what we do best: creating great