Farm Woman Finalist
She’s no stranger to hard work. Alma Kubat has lived on her Steele County farm for 62 years. She still helps her sons, Brad and Brent, with projects on the farm. Staff photo by Rick Bussler
For Alma Kubat, there is no better place on earth than being on the farm.
She should know as she has spent most of her 83 years on the family farm southwest of Owatonna. Prior to moving on the farm, she grew up on her parent’s farm in Deerfield Township.
Kubat tried a stint in town, but that didn’t last long.
She lived in Owatonna for a short time while working a full-time job as a telephone operator. After getting married in 1961, Kubat quit her job and embraced the farm once again as a dedicated full-time farm wife. They raised five children on the farm.
“I never cared for city life,” said Kubat. “I was interested in all the aspects of farming.”
Kubat’s husband passed away in 1994, but that didn’t keep her from carrying on with running the farm operation. She is still actively involved with it, along with her sons, Brad and Brent, who both live a stone’s throw away from the farm in Meriden Township.
Last week Kubat was named one of five finalists for Farmfest Woman Farmer of the Year award. The winner will be announced Aug. 3 at Farmfest near Morgan.
Kubat may be a little slower at getting around these days (she uses a cane), but she still takes care of her chickens, feeds steers and hogs and monitors the grain bins. She also takes care of all bills, financing and permits, as well as income tax preparations and orders fuel along with being instrumental in grain sales, pricing and marketing.
Soybeans, corn and alfalfa are grown on the 155-acre farm.
“She always wants to be helpful and demands to be included in daily labor farm operations,” said Brad Kubat. “In most months of the year, she’s rarely found in the house, but instead doing chores throughout the farm in some capacity.”
Brad said his mother has long been known “as the hardest working farm wife in the county,” and has the hands to prove it.
“Mom was born to be a farmer,” Brad says. “She lives, breaths and will die a farmer. She is a great steward of the land, and her faith in God runs deep,” he added.
It hasn’t always been an easy life for Alma Kubat. In 1979, a fire ripped through their house and left them living in a nearby garage for several months while the house was rebuilt. The family lost all its belongings in the fire.
The Farm Crisis hit in the 1980s, causing high interest rates. The Kubats built their new home at 14% interest.
“We’ve been through ups and downs,” Kubat said. “We didn’t give up. The best is to try and keep things rolling. My main objective was to keep things going.”
Kubat has followed a simple motto in life. “Be hard workers. Make a good living with what you have and still be happy and healthy,” she said.
She said she is “humbled and gratified” to be a finalist for the Farmfest honor. She knows the competition to win the top award will be stiff.
“I know there are a lot of hard-working women that have done things that mean more,” Kubat said, adding she would be content with just being one of the finalists.
Kubat said she has always done the best she can on the farm. “I just wanted to make a difference in everything I did here,” she said. “I wanted to stay home and keep the family happy,” she added.
Asked what she is most proud of on the farm, Kubat replied: “My family learning how to take care of the land. I’m proud of seeing crops grow. Nature is what I love about living out here.”
She is also proud of how any money ever made from the farm gets invested right back into the farm in the form of pattern-tiling, building maintenance, machinery purchases, repairs and updates. The tiling was done in phases with good reason. “We tiled little by little. I paid as much as I could afford,” Kubat said. “One of my goals was to make it a workable farm from one end to the other.”
In addition to farming, Kubat has also become somewhat of a celebrity. She joins her son Brad on a live radio broadcast, “Thursday Morning Almanac with Brad’s Mom” at 8:45 a.m. on KRUE-Radio.
“She is very proud of the heritage of our family farm and loves to tell its extensive story of good times and bad,” Brad said.
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Farmfest Woman Farmer of the Year Finalists
• Alma Kubat- Owatonna
• Debbie Morrison- Mora
• Kari Olson- Hawley
• Rachelle Krienke- Lester Prairie
• Rachel Gray- Blackduck
Winner to be selected on Aug. 3 at Farmfest
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