The Journal has appointed Ed Bedington as associate editor, to work alongside Tommy Leighton in his efforts to further develop all facets of Lockwood Press. Bedington joins after two years as editor of The Grocer’s Market Edge section, and is well-known to the fresh produce industry.

“Lockwood Press has just had its best year for some time. The addition to our team of an experienced and knowledgeable journalist in Ed is another illustration of our desire to continuously improve our service to the UK fresh produce industry as its number one daily and weekly news and information provider,” said Leighton.

• Syngenta Seeds Ltd has appointed Keith Harwood as UK sales manager for vegetables.

He is charged with helping to develop a specialised salesforce within Syngenta Seeds Ltd, which will be non-area based in order to give a more dedicated and focused approach to customers. Harwood has worked with the UK and European vegetable sector for many years.

• MorePeople, the specialist produce and horticultural recruitment practice, has announced that Janet Khan will be joining to manage its training and HR services division - MorePerformance.

MorePeople director Guy Moreton said: “Janet is an HR professional who has spent the last 13 years in senior management positions within the produce and horticultural supply chain and her appointment as the manager of MorePerformance reinforces our commitment to develop MorePeople as an all-round 'people-solutions' business, centred on recruitment, but with the ability to tailor our range of services to meet the specific needs of our clients - and not vice versa.”

• StePac LA Ltd, based in Galilee, Israel, has established a laboratory in East Malling, and a commercial centre in Rugby, to support its expansion in the highly competitive UK retail market.

The laboratory is headed up by Dr Sarah Taylor, a plant physiologist who specialises in post-harvest technology. She has worked in the horticultural industry for the past 15 years as a post-harvest consultant providing solutions to technical constraints and problems faced by growers, exporters and importers. Taylor is supported by Olivier Belet, a post-harvest technologist, who is completing his Ph.D on the use of controlled and modified atmosphere on the storage of pears.

The commercial centre is led by Nick Holt, who has moved across from another role in StePac’s parent company, DS Smith Plastics, where he specialised in helping retailers audit supply chains and reduce total costs.