After studying at the École Nationale Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort (1952-1956) and serving in the army from 1957 to 1959, he rose through the ranks of higher veterinary education at Maisons-Alfort, then joined INRA in 1975 before being appointed Director of Quality at the French Ministry of Agriculture. There, he was in charge of the label sector and set up the national inter-professional and inter-ministerial commission for agriculture not using synthetic chemistry, which led to the publication of the 1984 law establishing "Organic Agriculture".

In 1989, he drew up a report on appellations of origin other than wine, which led the then Minister of Agriculture, Henri NALLET, to promulgate the 1990 law extending INAO's missions to all agricultural appellations of origin. To this end, the INAO created three national committees responsible respectively for appellations of origin in the wine sector, the dairy sector and the agri-food sector.

From 1991 to 1997 Gilbert JOLIVET was the first president of the national agri-food committee, which set up a framework of doctrines and worked in liaison with numerous plant and meat sectors.

Under Gilbert JOLIVET's chairmanship, the CNPA recognized the AOCs Olives noires de Nyons, Huile d'olive de Nyons and Lentille verte du Puy, and revised the production rules for the existing AOCs Volailles de Bresse, Chasselas de Moissac and Noix de Grenoble, at the same time initiating various projects that would later lead to the recognition of several AOCs.

In 1997, Gilbert JOLIVET did not wish to continue his mandate, and was replaced as president of the CNPA by Michel PRUGUE.