Norman William Amling died Dec. 24 after a battle with cancer. He was a long-time resident of Orange California and a faithful member of St. John's Lutheran Church of Orange. Never afraid of hard work, Mr. Amling had been a farmer, a truck driver and a business owner. He was probably known best for his understanding and appreciation of flowers and agriculture in general.

Deb Conklin will become KeHE’s president and CEO on April 1, and Brandon Barnholt will move into the executive chairman role. Barnholt, who turns 65 in April, has been the company’s president and CEO for 15 years and helped lead the company through a time of extraordinary growth.

During Barnholt's tenure, KeHE expanded from a Midwest specialty distributor to the largest pure play distributor of specialty, natural, organic and fresh products in North America, including the acquisition of Tree of Life, Nature’s Best and Monterrey Provisions.

Michael (Mike) Bozick, who spent more than five decades at Richard Bagdasarian Inc. and nearly four decades as a board commissioner for the California Table Grape Commission, died peacefully on Dec. 22 in the Coachella Valley, a community he grew to love. He was 91.

Mr. Bozick was born in Masontown, PA, a company coal mining town, to Nicholas and Minnie Bozick, and was the sixth of seven children.

Peak of the Market hired Taylor Fenn as its new director of marketing and communications.

With eight years of experience in various communications roles and a love of vegetables, Fenn looks forward to using her knowledge and passion to enhance the Peak brand. Fenn’s professional career began with an internship at Sobeys Inc. before moving into positions in both the private and public sector after graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College. She also holds a bachelor's in communications from the University of Winnipeg.

On May 1, Idaho potatoes became the first U.S. spuds across the southern border under a new trade agreement that opened up all of Mexico for fresh American tubers.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture filed an administrative complaint against Valvilla Produce LLC for alleged violations of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act. The company, operating from Texas, allegedly failed to make payment promptly to three produce sellers in the amount of $1.49 million from February 2020 through May 2020.