BC Fresh appoints Steve Roosdahl as new CEO

Jan 03, 2025

BCfresh, a 100% grower-owned and operated company, has appointed Steve Roosdahl as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective January 2, 2025. Roosdahl will succeed Murray Driediger, who will retire on March 31, 2025, following an 18-year tenure leading the organization.

Roosdahl joins BCfresh with nearly 30 years of distinguished experience in the international fresh produce industry. His appointment follows an exceptional 29-year career at The Oppenheimer Group (Oppy), where he most recently served as vice president of operations and food safety. He holds an Executive MBA from Athabasca University.

"Steve's deep industry expertise and proven leadership make him the ideal choice to lead BCfresh into its next chapter," said Peter Guichon, chair of the BCfresh Board of Directors. "His extensive background in operations, technology, and supply chain management aligns perfectly with our strategic vision for the future."

At Oppy, Roosdahl played a transformative role in managing the company's North American distribution network. His achievements include developing sophisticated in-house computer systems, expanding warehousing operations across Western Canada and California, and successfully launching a third-party logistics division.

Roosdahl's industry leadership extends beyond his corporate roles. He has served as chair of the Technology Committee with the Canadian Produce Marketing Association, co-chair of the Produce Traceability Initiative, Director of Produce Supply, and contributes to the International Fresh Produce Association's Food Safety and Sustainability Committees.

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Video: Seeing the Whole Season: How Continuous Crop Modeling Is Changing Breeding

Plant breeding has long been shaped by snapshots. A walk through a plot. A single set of notes. A yield check at the end of the season. But crops do not grow in moments. They change every day.

In this conversation, Gary Nijak of AerialPLOT explains how continuous crop modeling is changing the way breeders see, measure, and select plants by capturing growth, stress, and recovery across the entire season, not just at isolated points in time.

Nijak breaks down why point-in-time observations can miss critical performance signals, how repeated, season-long data collection removes the human bottleneck in breeding, and what becomes possible when every plot is treated as a living data set. He also explores how continuous modeling allows breeding programs to move beyond vague descriptors and toward measurable, repeatable insights that connect directly to on-farm outcomes.

This conversation explores:

• What continuous crop modeling is and how it works

• Why traditional field observations fall short over a full growing season

• How scale and repeated measurement change breeding decisions

• What “digital twins” of plots mean for selection and performance

• Why data, not hardware, is driving the next shift in breeding innovation As data-driven breeding moves from research into real-world programs, this discussion offers a clear look at how seeing the whole season is reshaping value for breeders, seed companies, and farmers, and why this may be only the beginning.