Redenbacher, Orville

Born in Brazil, Indiana, Orville Redenbacher (1907–1995) grew up on a one-hundred-acre farm. He studied agronomy and genetics at Purdue University and conducted research on the first popcorn hybrids. Upon graduation in 1928, he was hired as a vocational agricultural teacher at a high school, a position he held until May 1929. He was then employed as an assistant county agricultural agent in Terre Haute, Indiana. When the county agent moved to Indianapolis, Redenbacher took over his position and conducted a five-minute radio program beginning in 1930. He was the first county agent in the country to broadcast live from his office and the first to interview farmers in the field with a mobile unit.