Jim Leimkuhler’s produce career briefly began in Wisconsin potato fields, blossomed in an accounting office in Cincinnati and found its niche in the corner suite of Progressive Produce LLC in Los Angeles.  From those different perches he enjoyed a long career in the industry, excelling in many different areas and working with many different commodities. After 35 years in the business, he retired from Progressive on March 31, 2021.

Leimkuhler’s journey began in the Midwest where he first became acquainted with fresh produce on his grandfather’s farm. “My grandfather grew sweet corn and sweet

Employee-owned Tanimura & Antle, one of the largest grower-shippers in the Salinas Valley, announced the promotion of Brett Champlin to senior director of harvest operations. In his new role, Champlin will oversee the day-to-day harvest operations for all the company’s crops.

“We have an extremely talented team of crop and industry experts in our harvest department and I attribute my knowledge and success to the mentorship they have provided me with since I started at Tanimura & Antle,” said Champlin.  “I look forward to continuing to work together to deliver premium fresh produce to our

In an effort to address both the extraordinary opportunities and the extraordinary challenges the industry faces, the Hass Avocado Board, with industry participation, has developed BOLD: The Hass Avocado Industry Board Leadership Development Program. Helping the industry face an increasingly complex marketplace with sophisticated problem-solvers, BOLD is designed to develop emerging leaders who are both motivated and equipped to meet those opportunities and challenges.

“This is the first program of its kind for the avocado industry and we’ve received enthusiastic and unanimous support from

Ocean Mist Farms, a leading grower and marketer of fresh artichokes in the U.S., hired John Georgalos as sales commodity manager. In this role, he will be responsible for managing iceberg lettuce, Ocean Mist Farms’ leaf program (red, green and Romaine), and will handle select key accounts for the company.

“We are glad to have John join our team and have a key role in our iceberg and leaf programs,” said Joseph Angelo, director of sales of Ocean Mist Farms. “With his experience, he will make us stronger and bring value in the day-to-day management of our operations.”

Prior to accepting the

Vanguard International has added new talent to its team with the hiring of Ignacio Ugarte in Chile and Fanny Robles in Peru.

Ugarte is an agronomist with years of produce industry experience. Ignacio’s past roles include quality controller with Decofrut as well as the operations manager at Aconex USA and Sun Valley. He also had a tenure with a Chilean produce platform based in Bangkok, Thailand, and for the last five years held the role of procurement manager in Chile and South America with Aozora New Zealand.

“We have been lucky to know of and follow along with Ignacio’s career trajectory

The Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board has named Jamie Clover Adams as its new executive director, effective May 10. She takes over from John Bakker, who is set to retire as executive director after serving the asparagus industry for nearly 20 years.

Clover Adams brings more than 25 years of state and federal food and agriculture leadership and policy experience to Michigan’s asparagus industry. Most recently, she served America’s farmers and ranchers as Farm Production and Conservation Chief of Staff under former USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue.

Prior to that she served for nearly six years as