Bruns, Armin R., 1893-

Armin R. Bruns was born in 1893 into a farm family in Sigourney, Iowa. He is credited with being the first American to plant soy beans as a commercial crop and established the Bruns Seed Company to promote soy bean production. He was a lifelong Republican who worked to ensure that Herbert Hoover's boyhood home would be preserved. Bruns was also a keen photographer and launched a project to take aerial views of Iowa. He was active with the Boy Scouts and a longtime contributor to the Piney Woods School in Mississippi.