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The Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers is governed by an 8 member elected Board of Directors consisting of Ontario processing vegetable farmers from across 3 Districts in Southwestern Ontario. Directors are elected for a two-year term.
By regulation, the Chair is appointed by the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission.
The OPVG has two Vice Chair positions which are elected by the directors for one-year terms each year at the first meeting of the Board of Directors after the District Annual Meetings have taken place in the Fall.
Dave Hope
ChairDave Hope has been re-appointed Chair of the Board for another term. Dave is retired from OMAFRA after working as Assistant Deputy Minister in several portfolios including Food Safety & Environment, Economic Development, and Regulated Marketing. Dave also served as Chair of the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission and as a Board member of Agricorp. Upon receiving a BSc(agr) in agricultural economics from the University of Guelph, Dave was a partner in a livestock farming operation. He spent time at the University of Guelph as a research fellow near the end of his career with OMAFRA.
Ryan Leclair
Vice Chair, District 1Ryan Leclair is a 3rd generation tomato farmer who lives in Dresden. Ryan grew up on a farm and has been involved with many different crops and processes along the way. Furthering his education, in 2006 he graduated from the Mechatronics Program at St. Clair College, where he continues to work during the winter months. Growing up on his family farm, it had always been a dream of his to take on a full time farming position. Ryan grows tomatoes with his family for Con-Agra Brands in Dresden, and took on this full time role in 2013. Corn, soybeans and wheat are also a few of the crops in their rotation. Ryan has served as Vice Chair on the OPVG District 1 Committee and was elected as a Director to the Board in 2020. For 2024, he was elected to serve another two-year term on the Board and to serve as Vice Chair.
Carl Merrick
Vice Chair, District 2Carl Merrick was re-elected to the Board for 2023 to serve another 2-year term. He held the position of Chair at the local District Committee level for one year prior to joining the Board in 2018. Carl has grown up with farming all his life. His father worked as a field manager for Green Giant and Carl, as a teenager, ran harvester for GlanRvest. He is actively involved with the family farm near Strathroy and grows green peas, snap beans and sweet corn. Carl has been elected by the Board to serve as Vice Chair for 2024.
Chris Stewart
Director, District 1Chris Stewart operates a cash crop and vegetable crop farm with his two brothers in District 1. He is a 4th generation farmer and has grown vegetables since 1974. Chris previously served as Director on the OPVG Board and also currently serves with the Seed Corn Growers of Ontario Board. He was elected by the Board to serve as Vice Chair for 2022. Chris was acclaimed for 2023 in District 1 to serve another 2-year term on the Board.
Neil Reimer
DIRECTOR, District 3Neil has served on the OPVG District 3 Committee for four years. He was born and raised on a farm in Belize but moved to Canada in 1986. Neil has graduated college and served on the AFO Board as well as with the OFVGA. He is married with 3 children and has farmed in the Vienna area for 20 years. Neil was acclaimed in District 3 for 2023 to serve another 2-year term on the Board.
Dan Froese
Director, District 3Dan Froese has served on the local District 3 Committee for several years and was elected to the Board as a Provincial Director in October 2017. Dan grew up on a farm and has lived in Southwestern Ontario for most of his life, currently residing in Straffordville. Dan and his family have been farming for 20 years both fresh and processing vegetable crops including cucumbers, peppers corn and beans. Dan also serves as a Councillor in Ward 2 for the Municipality of Bayham. Dan was acclaimed for 2024 in District 3 to serve another two-year term on the Board.
Peter Epp
Director, District 1Peter Epp is a 3rd generation farmer from the Leamington area. He is happily married to his wife, Terri, and has two sons. He graduated from the University of Guelph in Crop Science and Agricultural Economics. Peter has had the good fortune to farm with his grandfather, father, and brother. In recent years both his father and brother have stepped away from the day-to-day operations, while his oldest son is now actively involved (the younger son and his “better half” dropping by for Sunday tomato harvest). The farm operation has grown processing tomatoes since the 1950’s. Over the years, Peter has grown a variety of other cash and vegetable crops, with the most recent crop being onions. Peter continues to be involved with the local District 1 committee.
Tracy Gubbels
Director, District 2Tracy Gubbels was elected to the Board in District 2 in 2022 as a Director for a two-year term. Tracy farms in Mount Brydges with her husband and four daughters. She was born in England and moved to London when she was 8yrs old. Tracy attended college in Barrie, ON and has lived in the Strathroy area all of her adult life. Tracy and her husband, Pete, farm cash crops, watermelon and processing squash. They have up to 14 offshore workers that come each year with many of the same workers returning for the past 20 years. She is well aware of the challenges growers face with acquiring temporary foreign workers and getting them to the farm, especially over the last two growing seasons. Tracy has served on the District 2 Committee for several years and looks forward to working with the Board supporting our growers and the processing vegetable industry.
Adrien Pinsonneault
Director, District 1Adrien is a 3rd generation tomato producer in the Chatham area. He is proud to be growing under his own contract in District 1. He has been on previous grower buying groups as a Director and enjoys travelling and farming. Adrien is also a licensed John Deere technician/mechanic. He looks forward to serving on the OPVG Board to support the processing vegetable growers in Ontario.