At its recent meeting in San Antonio, TX, the Mushroom Council welcomed two new board members — Chris Alonzo, Pietro Industries (Region 2) and Tony Stachurski, Kitchen Pride (Region 1) — and elected new officers for 2025. The nine-member council is composed of eight domestic growers and one importer representing four regions. The program’s purpose is to maintain and expand existing mushroom markets and uses.

Lakeside Organic Gardens promoted two professionals within its sales department. Elisha Cope has been named director of sales and marketing, and Hugo Raygoza has been elevated to sales manager. These strategic leadership moves reinforce Lakeside’s commitment to delivering premium organic produce with integrity, passion and an unwavering dedication to sustainable agriculture.

The tariffs President Donald Trump put in place on Canadian and Mexican goods earlier this week are now on hold — again. The current pause is in effect until April 2. Trump initially announced plans to impose the tariffs prior to taking office, then in early February he pushed back the start date for Canadian and Mexican products to early March.

Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. announced the appointment of Deema Anani as chief commercial officer. Based in Dubai, Anani will report directly to Chairman and CEO Mohammad Abu-Ghazaleh and will focus on driving commercial growth within Specialty Ingredients and Innovation, a key area of the company’s long-term strategy.

AUSTIN, TX — Raymond Land, a founding father of the Florida Watermelon Association and a past president of the National Watermelon Association, was inducted into the NWA Hall of Fame at the 110th annual NWA convention, here.

Land, who began loading boxcars of watermelons at age 16, built a family business along with his wife, Annette, who also has deep roots in the watermelon industry. Today, the family operates Raymond J. Land Watermelon Sales and Land Truck Brokers, and also continues to grow watermelon and raise cattle.

Ross James Bailey, a 40-year produce industry veteran and owner-partner of RJB Produce Inc., died Feb. 16. He was 64.

Mr. Bailey was born Oct. 28, 1960, in Reedley, CA, to Jim and Nadine Bailey. A graduate of California Polytechnic State University, Mr. Bailey earned his bachelor's degree in agricultural business and management in 1984. That same year he started he journey in the produce industry at Sunkist, where he stayed until 1988.