OFVGA honours George Gilvesy

The Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (OFVGA) has named George Gilvesy as the winner of its 2025 Industry Award of Merit. Gilvesy, who stepped down last fall as chair of the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG), received the award at the annual OFVGA industry banquet in Niagara Falls on February 18. 

“I’ve had the privilege of working with George as part of the OFVGA board as well as through other involvement in the fruit and vegetable industry and he is a very deserving recipient of our Industry Award of Merit,” says OFVGA chair Shawn Brenn.

“George has long been a passionate and tireless advocate not just for greenhouse growers but for the entire fruit and vegetable sector, particularly in areas of trade and industry competitiveness, and we appreciate everything he has done on behalf of our industry.”  

Gilvesy is a graduate of Western University’s Ivey School of Business. His early involvement in the sector was as a tobacco grower in the Tillsonburg area, serving as a director on the board of the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers Marketing Board for many years, including holding the positions of chair and vice-chair. 

In 2009, he began a six-and-a-half-year tenure as general manager of the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers, and then became the organization’s appointed chair in 2015, a position he held for nine years before stepping down last fall. It was through his role as chair of OGVG that he also became a director on the OFVGA Board. 

Gilvesy has led many fruit and vegetable industry initiatives focused on sustainability, food security, trade, and market access and development for growers, as well as generally speaking up for the sector’s need for a streamlined regulatory environment and economically competitive playing field. 

This includes being a leading national voice on key files impacting the horticulture sector, such as working on Bill C-234 to secure carbon tax exemptions for Canadian agriculture, supporting the industry in achieving a long-held vision of financial protection for growers in case of buyer bankruptcy by helping Bill C-280 become law, and raising awareness of the need to protect Canada’s trade-dependent agricultural sectors by advocating against Bill C-282. 

Gilvesy has also been involved with the Ontario Greenhouse Alliance, Canadian Produce Marketing Association, and Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada, and has participated on numerous provincial and federal agriculture trade missions. His deep experience in trade and negotiations helped earn him unique appointments such as agriculture’s only representative on Premier Doug Ford’s council on U.S. trade and competitiveness. 

“George was always willing to speak up for the industry, whether it was appearing before many government and senate committees or participating in countless meetings and advocacy events, and he always made growers a priority by ensuring the sector’s needs were brought to the attention of decision-makers,” adds Brenn.