Ian MacKenzie, president of the Ontario Produce Marketing Association, who will retire at the end of this year, was honored at the association’s annual gala with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

The award recognized MacKenzie’s 40-plus years of dedication to the produce industry and the “endless hours, tremendous energy and enthusiasm” that he put forth to assist members of the entire supply chain solve issues and problems for the betterment of the Canadian produce industry and in turn, the consuming public, the OPMA said in a press release. He played a key role in building the produce industry into a true value-chain environment.Fred Webber of Dispute Resolution Corp. presented the Ontario Produce Marketing Association's Lifetime Achievement Award to Ian MacKenzie, OPMA president, who will retire at the end of this year.

The award presented to MacKenzie was just one of the awards that highlighted the Nov. 13 gala.

Additionally, the Dispute Resolution Corp. honored MacKenzie for his contribution to the formation of the DRC with his input from his years of historical accuracy, his policy insights, direction and vision, as well as his continued support lending his time and talents to the success of the DRC.

The OPMA Fresh Award was presented to Julian Sarraino, who demonstrated an ability to be innovative, passionate and dedicated towards the produce industry in the past year by consistently exhibiting a fervent determination to improve the quality, distribution and consumption of fruit and vegetables in Ontario.

The OPMA Outstanding Achievement Award was presented to Wonderful Sales, which showed exemplary efforts to support the food retail environment with innovative displays, great point-of- sale materials, eye-catching packaging and excellent value for the consumer. In addition to its efforts to help grow categories in-store, the hard work of their entire merchandising team led by Chris Cockle, vice president of Wonderful Sales in Canada, has demonstrated their commitment to the Ontario and Canadian produce marketplace.

The OPMA Cory Clack-Streef Produce Person of the Year Award was bestowed upon Mike Venton, senior vice president for no frills and produce procurement at Loblaws, who demonstrated among many attributes his leadership regarding the re-engineering of how Loblaw Cos. viewed and managed produce. The Grown Close To Home marketing program was developed based on his initiative and is still in place today celebrating Loblaw’s commitment to local growers.