George Gilvesy added to Oxford ag hall of fame

George Gilvesy, right, was recently named as the 2025 inductee into the Oxford County Agriculture Hall of Fame. He is congratulated by Warden Marcus Ryan. (Contributed Photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

Tillsonburg-area resident George Gilvesy has been named as the 2025 Agriculture Hall of Fame recipient by the Oxford County Federation of Agriculture.

The Agricultural Hall of Fame Award honours an individual who demonstrates outstanding leadership and an unwavering dedication to strengthening the rural community and the broader agricultural industry.

Gilvesy was shocked to be named to the Oxford County Agricultural Hall of Fame.

“I was really surprised,” he said. “So much of my work, especially the last 20 years, was outside of the county. It’s interesting folks in the county recognized what I contributed to broader agriculture.”

He paid heed to others who have contributed to agriculture in Oxford, saying, “Oxford County has had a long history of farm leadership, and to be associated with those folks is quite humbling.”

Gilvesy has spent over 46 years elevating Canadian agriculture on the global stage across a variety of roles with agricultural groups. As a tobacco grower, his initial involvement was with the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers’ Marketing Board. He was elected to the board as a director in fall 1986.

“Originally, it was things weren’t looking good in the tobacco industry in the mid-1980s. I felt the only way to deal with it productively was to get involved,” he said of his original reason for becoming a director.

Over the next 18 years, he served on the board, holding a variety of roles, including as chairman and vice-chairman.

He stepped down from the tobacco board in 2004 and was asked by the Ontario Farm Marketing Commission to assist with the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers. (OGVG)

“They had lost their management quite abruptly,” he recounted. “The commission knew I had just stepped down from the tobacco board.”

He was with the OGVG from 2009 to 2024, first as general manager, and then as chairman. The announcement on Gilvesy’s appointment credits him for “tireless work in international trade, labour reform, and climate policy that has safeguarded the livelihoods of countless farmers across the nation.”

Although he stepped away from his role at OGVG, and was replaced by former Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Steve Peters, Gilvesy is still working part-time. He is presently chair of the Greenhouse Produce Alliance of Canada, acting on behalf of OGVG.

“The greenhouse sector needed a bigger presence in Ottawa, so they asked me to chair,” he said shortly after returning from Ottawa.

In recognition of his lifetime of service, Gilvesy’s picture will be permanently displayed in the Oxford County council building along with previous Agricultural Hall of Fame inductees.

The Oxford County Federation of Agriculture also named the Doan family, who have been farming in the Norwich area since 1919, as the winners of the Family Farm Award.