Kevin S. Murphy, chief executive officer and owner of Baldor Specialty Foods headquartered in the Hunts Point section of New York City, died Jan. 31 at the New York Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan following a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 58.

The Produce Marketing Association welcomed Ashley Boucher as the new public relations manager Jan. 1. Ms. Boucher brings experience in business-to-business communications and technical writing to the association’s public relations team.

On the heels of an announcement by Pear Bureau Northwest that U.S. pears have gained access to the Chinese market, Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers, located in Wenatchee, WA, is preparing to begin shipments.

Mastronardi Produce Ltd., a leading grower-shipper of greenhouse vegetables, based in Kingsville, ON, is expanding its distribution center, which will nearly double the company's headquarters location.

The new space, which will be completely refrigerated with different temperature zones, is necessary due to the addition of more than 100 greenhouse acres in Ontario alone for 2013, according to the company.

Crowley Maritime Corp. and Customized Brokers, its Miami-based Customs brokerage company, announced the opening of a new cold-storage warehouse facility located in Miami.

The facility, known as Crowley Fresh, features multiple humidity- and temperature-controlled coolers. It is open around the clock to store and handle perishables imported from or exported to Latin America, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and the Far East.

Mexican tomato growers and the U.S. Commerce Department were able to come to an eleventh-hour deal on a new tomato anti-dumping suspension agreement, thus avoiding termination of an agreement that has been in place for the past 16 years. But producers south of the border say the excessive floor prices will lock out a large percentage of Mexican production.