Hiram Folds, founder of Atlanta-based produce distributor General Produce Inc., died Jan. 5 of undisclosed causes. He was 84.

Mr. Folds came up in hard times in Depression-era Milstead, GA. He lost his father at an early age and went to work part time on the Atlanta State Farmers Market, loading trucks and cutting bananas for the Georgia-Tennessee Produce Co. at 50 cents an hour.

United Fresh has opened the nomination period for the 2014 Produce Excellence in Foodservice Awards program, which honors the foodservice industry’s most innovative produce performers.

The program, sponsored by PRO*ACT LLC since its launch in 2008, has honored more than 30 different chefs and foodservice operators for their exceptional work in incorporating fresh produce in menu development, proper food safety and handling, engaging in community outreach and building an overall positive dining experience with fresh produce as a centerpiece.

The WhiteWave Foods Co., a leading consumer packaged food and beverage company in North America and Europe, completed its previously announced acquisition of Earthbound Farm for approximately $600 million in cash.

Gourmet Trading Co., a distributor of fresh asparagus and blueberries, is moving its Los Angeles headquarters and warehouse to a newly renovated 53,000-square-foot facility located in Redondo Beach, CA.

The company looks forward to continuing to provide its customers with high-quality fresh green, white and purple asparagus, and blueberries from the new location with expanded loading capacity, advanced precooling infrastructure and the addition of clean rooms for future value-added programs.

The new facility being constructed by Columbia Marketing International and McDougall & Sons in Baker Flats, WA, is close to completion.

“We are now using the facility as a cross-dock location and will be working through the winter to complete the inside,” said Steve Lutz, vice president of marketing. “When completed, this will be an $8 million storage and loading facility that will allow CMI to be ready for harvests that continue to be of record-breaking size.”

The California Sweet Potato Council has teamed up with Ketchum, a leading public relations firm in San Francisco, to launch a new marketing campaign that includes a fresh new logo and website in an effort to represent the California difference.

In addition, the campaign seeks to boost consumer outreach through social media and food bloggers.