On July 25th, 2019 the BDDC welcomed Peter Hannam and Paul Klosler (OAC Senior Development Manager) for a tour of the facility. An overview and tour of the facility was presented by the director of the BDDC Dr. Amar Mohanty. Peter Hannam was a dairy farmer before attending OAC and his time at the College was his first experience off the farm. When he began his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture degree in 1958, Peter had the expectation he would focus his learning on dairy but soon realized his passion in crops and quickly switched his focus to agronomy.

In Peter’s fourth year of study a professor claimed soybeans would never be grown in regions of Ontario further north than London. Peter took this as a challenge and experimented with the management and breeding of soybean crops to fit the terrain and season length of Wellington County. It took eight years of perseverance before Peter grew an economical plot of soybeans in the Wellington region with help from the University of Guelph’s agronomy department. Peter’s success led to the establishment of First Line Seeds in 1982, which he grew into one of Canada's largest soybean seed suppliers. Peter was also the creator of the well-known on-campus competition, Project SOY (Soybean Opportunities for Youth). He wanted to highlight the diversity of soybeans while allowing youth to use innovation and creativity to find alternative uses for the crop. Going into it 19th year, the competition features student’s inventions using soy as the main inspiration. Peter is enthused by the diversity of entries and has been thrilled to witness the commercialization of some of the products originally developed for the competition.

Peter has contributed tremendously to the University of Guelph as an alumnus through his volunteer leadership and support and funding of special initiatives, like Project Soy, the Bio-products Discovery and Development Centre, and soybean research through the Hannam Soybean Utilization Fund.

Group photo (from left to right) of Dr. Misra, Paul Klosler, Dr. Mohanty, Peter Hannam, and Zach Jamha.

Dr. Mohanty giving a tour of the facility.

Peter Hannam viewing the 3D Printer.

Dr. Mohanty explaining his research to Peter Hannam and Paul Klosler.